Pokemon, The Crobat Chronicles: Kanto
by RadsGoesToHell
Summary: A teen boy from Pallet Town and a young male Crobat come across each other one dark night after being attacked by wild pokemon and quickly become close friends. They start a journey across the land of Kanto together, challenging all the gym leaders and making friends of all kinds. However a shadow looms over the duo. Team Rocket has returned to Kanto... yet not all is as it seems!
1. Chapter 1: the Boy and the Bat

**Disclaimer: This story is set in a separate universe to the Anime, Manga and Videogame series of pokémon. It is partially based off of the games Red/Blue/Yellow and the remakes, FireRed/LeafGreen. There may be some references to the games and anime but overall this story is meant to be its own creation. Some ideas may be inspired by factors from the games and anime but it is its own idea and I have done my best to make it interesting and original. With that said feel free to review it, point out any mistakes and give any support you feel like. Hope you enjoy the read as this is my first proper story. **

**J1zDaLeg3nd out**

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Night is a strange place for those who live via the day. Visibility is non-existent, sound is enhanced and there is a constant feel of being watched from every corner and direct. Some may say this is all in the mind and most would probably agree, but it is safe to say that once in a while when you're walking through the dark there is the every possibility that you are being watched. This world of humans and Pokémon runs far and wide. There are many Pokémon, many lands and many kind of people. Of all the living creatures of the world there are few who live within the darkness of night comfortably, like it is all they know and wish to know. On this specific night an abandoned Pokémon wanders the mist. It is hardly visible in the dark, clouded, moonless shroud of night but this Pokémon is designed to be hidden here. It is at home in this world… or at least it normally would be. This Pokémon is alone. It used to have a master but after unfortunate events he and his master have…. Separated, for reasons known very well to him. He ran away from his life as a servant, a tool, a slave in human hands… a bad human's hands. Life in comfort is all he has known and now he is alone in a world he does not recognise. He wanders on, flapping through the trees of nearby woods using his four long, invisible skin flap wings till he reaches a hill nearby a valley of open fields. He rests atop the hill, tired, confused and slightly afraid. But suddenly he hears the sound of tree twigs snapping in the distance and the low sound of buzzing getting slowly louder as it gets slowly closer. He turns to see a swarm of nightmarish, monstrous looking creatures coming towards him. Angry things. Unfriendly things. Monsters looking for a midnight snack. Things he has never seen before. He readies to fight if he has to, raising his long, sharp tipped wing in defence over his flat, smooth face. His master taught him the basics of battle but the Pokémon is still young, still having much to learn. As the creatures get closer the moonlight flashes over the attacker's bodies, reviling insect like skin and limbs. Long spiked drill arms, large red bug eyes, long venom barbed abdomens, and thin fluttering buzzing wings. He feels the strong grip of fear and adrenaline clenching at his body, for the first time in his life. He wants to run but he is rooted to the spot, staring at the monstrous bugs before him... And then the Pokémon up front lashes out with a long spiked arm aimed straight at him.

**The previous morning, approximately 18 hours earlier…**

The summer sun gleamed high up in the sky like a signal flare from outer space. The fields of Suroway Farm reflected and glowed like solar street lights as the sun rays illuminated the growing corn, sewed wheat and ploughed dirt. A selection of Pokémon, including wild pidgey's, rattata's and the occasional butterfree scrabbled around the dusty ground, searching for rogue weeds, forgotten seeds or for hidden grubs under the mud. The farms Dugtrio, (a strange half hidden mole creature with three heads poking from out the ground) pushed its way through the mud and turf, working the dirt so that it could be used to grow more crops. Beside a low stone wall with plants and ivy growing through it trudged an elderly female venusaur (a large reptilian plant creature which walks on four fat legs with a large flower growing from its back), happily planting new seeds with her vines in one of the barren fields. Closer to the farm house a younger male Blastoise (a large turtle like creature with a huge shell and two water cannons sprouting out of its back) was filling up the water tanks using its just mentioned shell cannons for wild Pokémon and farm hold Pokémon to drink from. The current time at this point in the day was 10: 35 AM. From one of the farmhouse windows a young boy in a blue jumper, light grey trousers, a black T-shirt with a logo of two crossed bird wings and a small open top red cap could be seen looking out at the day. The boy was called Joseph; however everyone called him Joe simply because it was shorter. At this current point he no more knows his destiny then a Dugtrio knows about its hidden feet. He looked out through the glass, scanning the fields with his sparkling, sky blue eyes, getting a good view of the scenery. When he was satisfied he turned away from the window and looked around the inside of his house. He was standing in a nice cosy living room with light green walls and dark green carpet with light red sofas and a small television set. At the far side of the room Joe's uncle (a tall well-built middle aged man with greying black hair) was sat on one of the sofas reading the poké-times while watching the football on the television. Joe lived with his uncle because he did not have a father or mother. His uncle told him that the both of them had passed away when he was very young and he didn't remember what they were like. He didn't even know anything about them, not even their names; his uncle had always told him they were killed in an accident but had never explained how. He didn't even tell him what they looked like. But it didn't bother Joe much. He couldn't miss them because he'd never known them. He had never really been curious enough to ask more about it and he felt he was happier that way. He sat down on the opposite sofa and sighed. It was the last day he would see his home in a long time, because tomorrow he was going to be given his first Pokémon and start his journey as a Pokémon trainer.

Pokémon trainers, put simply, are people who catch and collect different kinds of Pokémon and trainer them; either to be stronger and to win battles, to be cuter, tougher, smarter, cooler or more beautiful and win competitions or simply for company as they travel around their region. Some people, like Joe's uncle, even breed rare species of Pokémon for other trainers or for everyday people to own and care for. Professor Oak, the main head of Pokémon knowledge for Kanto was offering to give several young people their own Pokémon to become Pokémon trainers and Joe was on that list for this month. Luckily his farm was only a small distance from pallet town so Joe wouldn't have to walk far. Everyone who gets offered a starter Pokémon from Professor Oak has to choose from one of three specific Pokémon: Bulbasaur, Charmander and Squirtle. There have been a couple of occasions when other Pokémon have been offered instead but they are rare and far between. Joe had spent the last couple of days deciding on which of the starter Pokémon he wanted to start with. Bulbasaur is easy to train and has some heavy attacks but is weak to quite a lot of types. Charmander is a lot harder to train but is strong against a lot of types and packs some heavy special power. From what he knew, Squirtle is somewhere in between the two, having fewer type weaknesses then Bulbasaur but less strength or difficulty in training then Charmander. All three of them had their own strengths and weaknesses which would either aid or cripple them in battle. But most of this information had come from his uncle who had been a trainer almost 20 years ago. His uncle also bred starter Pokémon that Oak took care of and gave to new trainers but the process was long and exhausting, requiring at least a month for the Pokémon to hatch and grow old enough to battle. He wasn't allowed to give them away himself because he was no professional Pokémon professor and it was illegal to give away baby Pokémon without a doctoring license. It suffers the same penalty as illegally selling a new-born puppy or kitten over black-market. Pokémon are living beings after all and need to be treated properly just like people and animals. His uncle finally looked up at him, recognising his presence returning to the room.

"How's the crops?" he asked.

"They're doing fine." Joe replied, simply.

"Where's Blitz?" his uncle asked. Blitz was Joe's pet Growlithe, which was a small fiery dog with red fur and black stripes as well as a small white mane and fluffy tail. He was also the son of Joe's uncle's Arcanine, Arco. He had been given to Joe as a birthday present for his thirteenth birthday. At the time Blitz had been only a few weeks old, now he was almost half a year old and still growing. He had a bad habit of setting fire to Joe's clothing and even his own fur (Which is surprisingly easy to do.) Joe stiffened up slightly.

"He's sleeping in his bed still." He explained, glancing at the small dog bed beside the staircase. The little puppy was snoring soundly, a small pale sheet hanging from his mouth and covering half his body. His uncle looked at him.

"He's still asleep." He mused. The idea of that was funny to him. For the first month or so he hadn't even tried to sleep at any point of the day. Puppies are like that; completely full of life and energy. So much so that they constantly disrupt the sleeping older world around them. "I didn't think it was possible for him to still be asleep by this time in the day." He shuffled his paper, flipping the page over and making a rustling sound as he did so. "Were you planning to go out and play with him at some point today?" He asked. Joe smiled as he watched the sleeping form.

"Yeah." He said.

"Good. It's a nice day." His uncle went back to his paper for a second. "You decided what Pokémon you wanted to start with? He added, curiously. Joe thought for a second. The question had taken him by surprise.

"Not yet" Joe told him. "I was actually hoping you'd help me decide. You used to be a trainer so I thought you might know which I should pick." Joe's uncle put the paper down and turned to look at him.

"Certain people work well with certain Pokémon and vice versa" his uncle told him. "No one truly knows what the best Pokémon to use is. It all depends on the trainer and how good the trainer and Pokémon's relationship is. Think yourself lucky. Not every kid gets a Pokémon and most of them won't start with one of the starters. They get one that's either handed down to them or one they've caught themselves." He smiled at Joe. "It doesn't really matter that much which Pokémon you start with to be honest. You only need to choose the one you feel would be the best choice for you. Maybe Charmander would be best for you. Charmander evolves into a flying type. You like birds, don't you?" Joe didn't seem to agree with him. His expression was a little unsure.

"True." Joe agreed, though not definitely. "I like to watch them and I love their songs… But I hate flying, and heights. I don't think that a flying Pokémon would be the best choice for me." His uncle sighed, sadly.

"Look. Think about it tonight." He explained. "If you still haven't chosen by the morning then choose one at random." Then the conversation was over. He picked up the newspaper again and continued to read. Joe sighed and stood up again. Slowly he walked over to the staircase, grabbing a lead and rubber ball from the side. He knelt down and nudged the small red form. It moved slightly. A small paw kicked out from under the blanket.

"Wakey wakey, sleepyhead." Joe sang. "It's time to get up." The form rolled over under the blanket. White fur became visible from underneath. Joe smiled. "I've got the ball." He whispered, crushing the small foam ball in his hand, causing it to make a high pitch squeak. A head suddenly shot up from under the blanket. A small smiling canine face poked out with a small black dot nose and adorable tiny eyes. A pink tongue hung out of the smiling mouth and under the blanket a fluffy tail wagged. Joe reached out and stroked Blitz's head. Blitz yapped happily. "Ok." Joe chuckled. He reached out with his other arm and clipped the lead onto Blitz's collar. "Let's go play."

A few minutes later and the two of them were standing in a small field just outside of Suroway farm. They had to head out there so that, in Blitz's excitement, he didn't burn down any crops or scare any of the farm Pokémon. He was still learning his own power and hadn't got the hang of creating fire. Every time he sneezed he set the carpet alight. The grass was slightly longer out here because there wasn't a large herd of tauros eating it. The sun had risen a little higher. Blitz waddled a few feet further ahead and turned at the sound of the rubber ball squeaking. Joe held his hand primed to throw. The small red and white ball was gripped between his fingers. He squeezed it slowly, causing it to make a gasping high pitch noise. Blitz barked and wagged his tail, jumping up and down excitedly. Joe pulled his arm back.

"Ok." He muttered, choosing his target to throw too. "Go Long!" He called, and released. The fluffy rubber red and white ball sailed through the air, leaving a trail of colour behind it. Blitz dashed after it, causing a few grass reeds to ignite in his wake. He was already catching up on it. With little trouble he ran directly underneath it, past it, stopped, turned around, opened his mouth… and incinerated it. Where the ball had been was a small cloud of ash slowly floating to the ground. Joe, who had been running after him, reached the small cloud a few seconds later. He held out a hand. Small specks of material and plastic fell onto it like the snowflakes of a volcano. He clenched his hand slowly and looked down at Blitz. He didn't look very happy. "Now, Blitz. What have I told you about flaming your toys like that?" Joe chided, a smile still lingering on his face. Blitz spun a circle, panting and smiling happily. He didn't seem to figure that he was at all being told off. Joe's smile faded now. "It's not funny." He snapped, a little more harshly now. "I was going to give you a few treats. But now that you've done that I guess I'll have to eat them, won't I." He put a hand into his pocket and pulled out a small, black coloured charcoal biscuit. Blitz suddenly froze still, his eyes fixed on the treat. He sat patiently, never turning his gaze away for a second. A small dot of saliva dripped from his mouth. Joe smiled. That had gotten his attention. "I mean it." He continued, mockingly now. "You stop burning your toys or I will eat it." He really wasn't joking anymore. He had done it before. It tasted awful, like burnt tree bits. Blitz groaned sadly, looking down at the floor pathetically.

"Gggrroooouuuwwww." He whimpered. Joe sighed and lowered his hand. He was so glad he didn't have to eat the biscuit now. He could not understand why fire type Pokémon, specifically Growlithe, loved these things. It was basically a shaped lump of coal. He smiled and patted Blitz's head. Blitz still looked sad. He was milking it now. Joe chuckled. He lifted his hand again. Blitz's attention fixed back to him. He pulled back his hand. Blitz stood up again, his tail wagging. The biscuit hung between Joe's fingers.

"Here you go, boy." He called. "FETCH!" He released. The lump of biscuit sailed on through the air. In a mad frenzy, Blitz suddenly spun around and shot of after it, looking head up all that time. He was too busy focusing on the treat so he didn't see the forest line getting closer and closer towards him. Joe stopped, skidding to a halt and watching as his Pokémon ran off towards the tree line. "No. Blitz Heel! He shouted. But Blitz didn't hear him. He was too focused on getting his treat. He wanted it so badly. He ran on and on and finally disappeared inside the forest edge. Joe stood about twenty metres away, watching from the distance, a worried expression on his face. Blitz had just run out into wild Pokémon territory. No one knew just how many different Pokémon lived in there but they knew a lot of them were not friendly. In fact many of them were bug types. Blitz wasn't old enough to venture in their alone, even with Joe with him. Joe was hardly likely to be any help if he got in trouble. There was nothing for a few seconds. "Blitz?" Joe called. No response, not even a bark. He tried again. "Blitz!" He called louder. "Come here, boy. Come back!" Still there was nothing. Then the silence changed. It was no longer the silence of nothing happening. Instead it was the silence of anticipation. The silence before something was about to happen. Joe took a step back. He just hoped 'for the love of Arceus that Blitz hadn't woken up a…' And then there was a low buzzing sound. It echoed around the entire woods like an earthquake. It was quiet at first but slowly, gradually grew louder and louder and louder and louder until it was almost defining. Joe covered his ears. "Beedrill!" He scream, knowing what was about to happen. He took several steps back. And then there was a bark. He looked back at the forest. Blitz was running back out, completely fine. He ran straight on and heading past Joe, a terrified expression on his face. He had woken the hive. A few seconds later and an entire army of three foot tall, spear armed, sharp stinger, yellow and black stripped beedrill came speeding out after him on their small, quick fluttering wings. They came out of every visible orifice of the woods, swarming like… well bees. They pointed their drills and aimed their stingers, flying incredibly fast towards the small, annoying, fire breathing dog that had woken them up and crashed into their nest. Joe stood open mouthed for a second. "Blitz, what the hell did you do?!" He muttered. Then he ran. He didn't even look back. Doing so would have been futile. He just kept running, his feet a blur as he sprinted as fast as he could away from the tree line. The beedrills, now catching sight of him, sped after him, seeing him as the newest target. (Most beedrill are very single minded. If their nest has been destroyed they take it out on the nearest none-beedrill living thing around, whether they're responsible or not.) Joe felt the ground getting rougher. He was coming up on the hill near Suroway farm, which looked out over Pallet town. The grass rose up gradually as he scaled the top. Then he saw something red and furry speed past him. Blitz had dashed of up the hill and was already running down the other side. Joe suddenly realised how much danger he was in. If the Beedrills were just behind Blitz, and Blitz had just outrun him, then how close were the beedrills to him? Making the first worst decision that was yet to come of his life, he turned around. Behind him a huge long row of large, angry wasp Pokémon were charging towards him, now directly in front of him. The closest one had its stingers readied already. Joe continued running but forgot to look where he was going. Suddenly he tripped on some wet grass and fell flat on his face. Not knowing what else to do he curled up into a ball to defend himself. He muttered a desperate prayer under his breath, in case any god anywhere would be kind enough to spare his life. The beedrill up front stopped in front of him, raised its stingers, brought them swinging down… and suddenly stopped. In fact all the beedrills stopped completely. They froze in mid action, their angry buzzing jolting to a quiet silence suddenly. Joe opened an eye. The beedrill in front of his was looking down dumbly at him. Its stingers were now by its side, its antennae twitching as it picked up signals from within the forest. All the other beedrills were doing exactly the same thing. Their queen was calling them back to the nest. Slowly, uncontrollably and in unison, all of the beedrills turned around and flew slowly back towards the forest. When they were gone Joe sat up, looked at the tree line and sighed with relief.

The door to the farm house swung open and Joe walked in, Blitz following after him. His Uncle wasn't in right now. His car was gone so he'd probably popped out into town for something. Joe didn't really care much. He was tired and he wanted to rest. Outside the sun was still up but it was begging to get a little darker already. It would be night time in a few hours. He walked up the stairs to his room, leaving Blitz downstairs with his lead off. He threw his bedroom door open, sat down on his bed and switched on the TV. There was a battle happening on the PBA [Pokémon Battle Arena] channel. A trainer with a Druddigon was battling a trainer with a Jolteon and, from what Joe could tell, the Druddigon was winning, using powerful smashes with its tail to knock the foes Rapidash over. Around the room were posters of famous people and Pokémon, like the three legendary birds, Moltres, Articuno and Zaptos, the Kanto Elite Four, and a trainer in red with a Pikachu who Joe didn't know the name of. He relaxed onto his bed, a child's drawing of the three starters looking down on him. He smiled to himself.

"Only 12 hours to go." He whispered to himself "And then I'll be a trainer. A real Pokémon trainer". And he drifted off into the large void in time and space commonly called sleep.

A sudden Screeching in the distance woke him up again. Joe sat bolt upright on his mattress. He looked around the pitch-black room as his eyes adjusted to the lack of light. The TV had been turned off while he slept and the clock on his wall said it was 5 minutes to 5AM. He rubbed his tired eyes and swung his legs of the side of the bed.

"What on earth was that noise?" he exclaimed to himself. It was definitely not human. And if it was a Pokémon, It wasn't one that Joe had ever heard before. He went to the window and pulled back the curtains. Outside the sun was just starting to rise. A small line of purple light was moving its way up the sky. He looked towards the distance. On the hill, not too far away from the farm, a battle was going on. The silhouette of an unusual Pokémon was fighting off another group of bug-like Pokémon. Part of Joe's mind said 'leave it. These things always happen and we shouldn't interrupt it. That's nature' but the other part of his mind, the part that was too curious to resist said 'I've never seen that kind of Pokémon before. And if it's incredibly rare, I should help it out.' As he looked closer, he could see that the group of Pokémon that were attacking were Beedrills. Six Beedrills were attacking that other Pokémon on the knoll. He sighed. He would have to help now. It was most likely that they'd travelled that far from the forest because he and Blitz had disturbed their nest. Beedrills could be dangerous enough on their own as they have strong poison in their stingers but a swarm is lethal. Even six of them can prove just as bad.

"I have to do something." He decided quickly. He grabbed his jacket and hat from the side of his chair and flung them on, rushing through the door, hardly aiming to be quiet anymore. Blitz was awoken by his rushing downstairs. He whimpered a little but he did not bark, watching keenly as Joe got dressed and went for the front door. His canine mind told him 'Oh boy. A midnight walk. I wonder if he'll give me more biscuits.' He gave a small, excited yap. Joe turned around and saw the small Growlithe puppy lying on its bed and wagging its tail madly. "Shh!" He hushed him to be quiet as he crept to the door and slid it open. Without a second thought he ran out into the night, feet pounding on the dry ground, kicking up mud as he sped through the fields. Blitz ran after him, thinking they were going for a run. The hill was getting closer and closer with every step. The Beedrills became more obvious the closer he got but the other Pokémon they were attacking was still hard to see, as if it was blending into the purple and black night. Blitz ran closely behind him. Joe skidded to a stop as he realised that he hadn't thought this through properly. He was charging into a wild Pokémon battle with no Pokémon of his own and no experience in a battle what so ever. He was practically committing suicide by running into the middle of it. But it was too late to turn back now, he was already at the bottom of the hill, and that Pokémon needed help. He continued to scale the hillside, Blitz following behind. The battle was still going on, the Beedrills were still pressing hard with their attacks.

As Joe reached the top he was flung back as a huge burst of wind knocked him and the Beedrills flying to the ground. The other Pokémon had used its two large wings to create a powerful gust. Joe landed at the bottom of the hill. He winced in pain as he tried to get back onto his feet. The Beedrills were already back up and attacking again, this time more ferociously, throwing jabs and slashes everywhere. But again the Pokémon sent them flying backwards, creating a heavy back-blast of wind. Joe ran up the hill again. The Beedrills were now getting back up again. As they began to get up to attack again Joe reached the top and stood in front of the Pokémon, arms out to protect it. Blitz stood in front of him to protect him, yapping in excitement. The Beedrills looked surprised, so did the Pokémon Joe was protecting. Blitz growled uneasily, standing his ground but slightly frightened. Joe shivered with nerves but stood his ground, too. The Beedrills made a chorus of buzzing sounds which Joe assumed to be laughter. They raised their drills and prepared to charge. Joe suddenly realised how stupid he was to jump in front of a group of wild Pokémon. The Beedrills drove forward, drills out, ready to strike.

A flash of purple wings, a gust of strong wind and three of the Beedrills collapsed to the ground, unconscious. The others darted back in surprise. The Pokémon that Joe had been protecting was now in front of him, protecting him. Joe could still not see it properly. Its outline was the only thing visible in the darkness. It turned back to look at Joe. It's yellow, half-moon eyes glowed in the darkness like filtered sunlight through glass. In made a sort of purring-growling sound then turned back around to face the Beedrills in front. A drill smashed into the side of the Pokémon's face. It winced but took the hit and returned with a powerful blow from its front wings. The other Beedrills slashed and jabbed at it but it took the hits and returned them with fast movements and cleverly made dodges.

"We need to stop this." Joe commanded, narrowly avoiding a wild stab from a drill. Blitz looked at him and smiled. The Pokémon winced and flinched as the jabs came in faster and faster. "Blitz! Ember!" A puff of flame smashed into the side of a Beedrill. It flinched upon contact and they turned to the direction it came from. Blitz sent out another ball of flame. This one hit a different Beedrill in its antennae which sent it into a furious rage. It swung its drills at the others and everyone around it, scratching the edge of Joe's shoulder and ripping the jacket. The large bees scattered, chased away by their crazy partner. Joe looked back to where the Pokémon lay in an exhausted heap. He ran over to it and put his hand on the back of its head. Its skin burned like fire. The poor thing had obviously been poisoned by the Beedrills. Its yellow eyes looked into his blue eyes. He felt a stinging sensation in his right arm. He looked to his right and saw a huge gash in his shoulder, lying partially hidden under the rip in his jumper. "Oh Crap!" he exclaimed, suddenly feeling sick and exhausted. It must have happened during the attack. He was too busy saving this Pokémon that he didn't even notice getting hurt. A wave of pain and tiredness hit him suddenly. His knees sagged and he collapsed to the ground. Blitz dashed over to him. He nudged his arm but Joe did not respond. Blitz lied down beside him, head up, looking out in case something else came along.

About an hour later the sun had risen higher, almost fully visible now. Joe and Blitz still lay where they had been an hour before. The Beedrills had completely disappeared now. They knew not to mess with the three of them now. A shadow came into view in the distance. It scaled the hillside from the direction of pallet town. Blitz starred and one of his eyes slid open. He saw the shadowed figure walking towards them, wearing a white lab coat and short grey hair. Blitz lifted his head and growled lightly. The shadowed figure reached a pail hand out to Blitz and stroked him on the head.

A while later Joe awoke. Bright lights blurred his vision and he squinted his eyes so he could see. When his eyes were finally used to the light he looked around. He was lying on a turquoise foam lab bed. He sat up slowly. He was inside a white room with pale green walls enclosing it. On his left was a bunch of vials that contained weird looking liquids, on his right was a desk with lots of paperwork on it. There was also another bed like his right next to him. The Pokémon that he had rescued that night laid on it. It hadn't awoken yet but that could be understood because the fight it had put up was astonishing. Joe got off the bed and winced with the pain in his shoulder. He looked at it and saw it had been bandaged. He walked over to the Pokémon. His legs ached with the pain of fatigue. Joe was now able to see it properly, and he understood why he couldn't see it to well in the darkness. From head to back wings it was covered in dark purple skin. It had two large, bat like ears at the top of its head, a large mouth that was full of sparkling white teeth, and two very small feet (at least what look like feet) behind its two back wings.

"Amazing, isn't it." Someone said behind him. Joe spun around in surprised. A tall, old, grey haired man stood there. He wore a white lab coat and dark grey trousers. He had short grey hair and chestnut brown eyes. He smiled at Joe in a disarming way. "You shouldn't be walking around." He told him. "You had quite a big fight last night. It was lucky I found you."

"Professor Oak?" Joe asked. The man nodded. Joe stepped back. "What am I doing here?"

"One of the Beedrills who attacked you last night poisoned you. I used an antidote to fix you up" he pointed towards the purple Pokémon that lay on the bed behind him. "He saved you, and you saved him."

Joe turned around. The Pokémon was now awake; its yellow eyes looked into Joes. He felt a sudden connection between the two of them. He felt like he'd somehow known it for a long time, as though there meeting that night was destined. Something told him that this Pokémon was to become an important part of his life. It was a spark that levitated at the back of their minds, filling the air with a strange awkward silence. All of time seemed to link into this moment. It glowed with importance, yet no one knew why at the time.

"What is it?" he asked.

"He is a Crobat." Oak replied. "The final evolutionary stage of Zubat. This one's quite small for its species. They're incredibly rare among trainers and impossible to find in the wild. How you found this one I do not know but if you hadn't helped each other both of you both could have died."

"Does my uncle know where I am?" Joe asked. The professor nodded.

"I contacted him straight after I found you." Joe put his hand on the Crobat's head. Its fever had died down now. His fingers brushed past something on the back of its left ear.

"What's this?" he asked. He pulled it off slowly so he didn't hurt him. He held in his hand a small plastic tag with a name inscrolled on it. "Ralph" He read aloud. Upon hearing this word the Crobat lifted itself straight up on its front wings. It recognises the name that Joe had read out.

"Looks like that's his name." the professor concluded. The Crobat, 'Ralph', nodded. The professor walked over to him.

"Your Uncle said you were coming in today for your first Pokémon." He continued to say.

"I know." Joe turned back around to face him. "But I still haven't decided on which Pokémon to start with."

"Well I have a proposition for you." he lifted up a small, cardboard box and opened the lid. Inside was a pokéball. This pokéball was different to the other types, though. It was white all over with a red line going over the joint part. "This was found hanging from his neck. We assumed it was the original pokéball 'Ralph' was caught in. You and 'Ralph' seem to have some kind of amazingly connection. I don't know how but it's there. And since no one has come to claim him it's possible that he doesn't or no longer has an owner. You can't decide on what Pokémon to start with, either. So I propose the following. I think that you should take Ralph as your first Pokémon." Joe looked back to Ralph. "If you both choose, of course. It's perfectly legal for me to do so. This pokemon, as far as we are aware, is abandoned. If the owner does eventually turn up I'll contact you or your uncle to bring him back and hand him over. But, until then, he's yours to take care of." The professor finished. Joe thought for a couple of seconds. This was such a big thing for him to take in. This was clearly a pokemon which had been owned before and may still have an owner. For all he knew they could be still looking for their pokemon. Looking for Ralph. Was it ethically right for him to take under teh wing a pokemon which may belong to someone else without their written permission? His eyes fell on Ralph who looked at him hopefully. The large purple bat nodded his approval. That seemed to decide it for Joe.

"Then I choose you." he said quietly. Ralph smiled slightly, flapped his wings and lifted off the bed. He hovered above the floor, his wings slowly flapping to keep him stable.

The Professor laughed. Joe turned back around to face him "Take the pokéball" Professor Oak told him. Joe grabbed the pokéball out of the box. He held it out in his hand, and then clipped it onto his belt.

"It's settled then." The professor said delightedly. "This Crobat shall be your starting Pokémon. Before you go I have something to ask of you." He walked over to his desk and moved several papers aside, looking for something. "Many, many years ago I used to be a trainer myself. I had a dream of recording every Pokémon in our world. To take down information, to understand them properly. But I am old now and this dream has proven almost impossible to achieve now, especially since there are over 700 Pokémon known to us now." He finally found what he was looking for. A small, red, electronic pad. He picked it up and held it in his hand. "So I invented this, The Pokédex, to take down all the information about a Pokémon. It takes down basic information like name, looks, size and sound upon sight, but to get full information you have to capture it." He turned around and walked back to the two of them. He held his hand out with the Pokédex gripped in his palm. "Joe, I ask of you to take down information about all the Pokémon in the region. To understand them, to befriend them, to learn from them. Will you take this quest from an old man?" Joe and Ralph looked at each other, then back to the professor.

"Sure." Joe decided.

"Excellent." The professor cried. Joe took the Pokédex from the professor and held it in his hand. "Your uncle is waiting outside." The professor added. "Your adventure has just started."

The pair walked out of the building, smiles on their faces, their brains buzzing with excitement. Yet they still felt confused by the experience the night before. All this was happening so suddenly. Was it even real? A boy with no Pokémon care training suddenly befriending an incredibly rare creature and making it his starter Pokémon. It sounded too farfetched. Yet it was happening. As they exited the building he noticed his uncle standing outside, waiting, a bag over his back, Blitz standing next to him and his Venusaur, Flower, also standing with him. A few feet further back, watching like a god of humanity, was a tall, fiery coated Arcanine. The arcanine was called Arco and he was his uncle's original starter Pokémon. He had been given him as a present when he was ten years old. They had grown up together. Apparently at one time the two of them had been very powerful trainers but had given it all up to live a quieter life. Joe walked up to his uncle and stood in front of him. They did not speak for several seconds.

"I'm speechless." His uncle finally said. "You rush out to protect a wild Pokémon you don't even know from a swarm of bugs without any training or understanding of how to fight in a Pokémon battle. They you get hurt and get rescued by the old professor"

"I know." Joe said, solemnly. "I'm sorry" His uncle smiled and put his hand on Joe's good shoulder.

"And I couldn't be more proud of you." Joe looked at him, unsure that he heard right.

"But I acted irresponsible." Joe reminded him "Why are you proud?"

His Uncle laughed. "Because you saved another life and made a friend at the same time. You also learned more in one battle then most trainers do in five. It takes real bravery to risk your own life for others. Your father would have been proud of you. Both your parents would be. You remind me of them every day." He took a step back, looking solemn. Then he looked at Ralph. "Is this your Pokémon?"

Joe turned around to introduce him "This is Ralph"

"Ralph, huh." His uncle repeated. "Unusual nickname to give him."

"I didn't give it to him." Joe informed him. "It was written on a tag attached to him." He held out his gripping right palm. "I also found him with this. It was hanging from his neck." He passed his uncle the white pokéball the professor had given him.

"Never seen a pokéball like this before." His uncle concluded after studying it for a couple of seconds. "It's probably a new style that's been made." He then passed it back to Joe, not mentioning the small insignia carved on the back.

"I've brought along some things that you will need. I stopped off by the pokémart on the way." He slid the bag off from his back and laid it on the floor. "Inside is everything you're going to need. Pokéball, Potions to heal your team, food, water, spare clothes…"

"I get it!" Joe interrupted; irritated by the fact his uncle was giving him another lecture. He picked up the bag from the ground and slung it over his shoulder. It was quite heavy but light enough to carry easily on his back.

"One last thing." His uncle added. He leaned closer, speaking in a lower voice that only Joe would hear. Joe leaned in too. He uncle looked more stern and serious now. "Keep an eye on your friend here. He's unique and that may lead to certain groups of people wanting to come after him. There's been rumours going around. Just don't be afraid to protect yourself should people like that pop up in your travels. Also don't be afraid of his power or your own. You're smart and clearly talented. You could go a long way. Catch more Pokémon, build your team, and grow more friends. Don't ever let your skills become limited. Keep growing. Keep training. Be a fearless trainer."

"I know all that already." Joe explained. "You've told me many times."

"I know" he replied. "I've reminded you of that information every day. You're my nephew after all. Legends are not born. They have to be made." His uncle took a step back. "Now go on. Go have some great adventures with your friends. But don't forget about your old uncle still at home."

"I won't" Joe said, rubbing his eye, trying to stop the possibility of a tear appearing. He was leaving home for the first time. This was a scary moment for any child to experience, even in this world where kids did it all the time. But it had to happen one day. Better when you're young then when you're old. Blitz trotted up to Joe, yapping in excitement. Joe laughed and knelt down to him. He stroked his ears affectionately.

"No." he laughed "you aren't coming with me." Blitz's face drooped. He moaned in sadness. Joe tickled his chin. "You take care of the crops while I'm gone. And don't go rummaging through the feedbags again." Blitz's tail wagged furiously. He was definitely not going to keep that promise. He jumped up and down, barking his approval. "Good boy" he stood up again. He then walked up to Flower and patted her head.

"Saur" she growled with fondness. A few feet further away Arco bowed to him, a large fanged smile on his face. Joe bowed back in respect.

He turned to look down the path to the next town. He knew the roads would be long and the battles tough but he could see the look in Ralph's eyes. They were prepared for all that. They would take it on as a team. A new team. A fresh team. A team that was to soon become, in their own way, legendary. This was the start of their amazing adventure, and they didn't even know what was to happen yet. The two of them set off, waving back to the others as they walked into the distance. Their strong friendship had just begun to form.

* * *

**So that's the first chapter. Sorry it might be a little bad in areas. I've been back and edited it a lot but it's still not perfect. Feel free to write a review or send me a private message with advice or ideas. All points people have to make are welcome. Enjoy the rest of the story.**

**J out!**

**Also check out the sequel story that has just come out. Again, it's been written by me and hopefully it's better. I would advice you finish this story first so that everything happening in that one makes sense. Either way, thank you for all teh support and advice I get. You guys are awesome.**

**Crobat Chronicles 2: Johto (Link): **** s/11340040/1/Pokemon-The-Crobat-Chronicles-2-Johto **


	2. Chapter 2: Winter

The followed path ahead twisted like a crazed worm digging through the earth and hillside. Joe and Ralph walked and flew in awkward silence next to each other for most of the time. Occasionally they glanced at each other. They didn't talk because they didn't feel a reason to talk. After all they had only just met. They hardly knew each other. They hadn't had enough time to get to know each other. Now was the time to do that. Joe coughed subtly. Ralph turned his eyes to him, looking stern and strong but clearly suffering from a small amount of nerves and discomfort as well.

"So" Joe said finally. Ralph blinked at him. "Where did you come from? Why were you on the hillside last night?" Ralph thought for a second, then started making yapping, grunting, screeching sounds.

"Cro, cro crobat cro, Crrroo cro bat, crobat. Cro bat, Croooobat." Joe nodded slowly, pretending that he somehow understood what any of that meant.

"Rrrrrright…" He said, sounding completely confused. "Could… you possibly repeat that?" Ralph looked back at him and rolled his eyes. This time he explained it in a way that Joe could understand. He shrugged his shoulders. "You don't know?" Joe translated, a little surprised. Ralph nodded. "How do you not know where you came from?" Ralph shrugged again. "Not even where or when you were born. Were you even born?" Ralph gave him an expression that, if he were a human, would have said 'Seriously? You're asking me that?' Joe received the message quickly and fell quiet again. "How did you get your name, by the way?" Joe asked again after a while. Ralph looked at him again… then shook his head. "You don't want to say?" Joe asked, trying to understand.

"Cro." Ralph said.

"Was that a 'Yes' cro or a 'No' cro?"

"Cro!"

"Well that explains it all!" There was silence for a minute or two. Then Ralph began asking question. He grunted quickly and gestured about with his wings. "Sorry, I don't understand what you're trying to say. Could you say it in a way a human can understand?" Joe's interruption caused Ralph to sigh in annoyance. It wasn't easy being a Pokémon trying to talk to a human. Most of them couldn't understand poke speech. Most of them. He slowed down a little, turned to Joe and gestured a wing to his chest. "Me?" Ralph nodded his head closer, edging on another meaning. "Something about me?" Joe tried. Ralph nodded quicker and more frantically, clearly showing that Joe was on the right thought track. "You want to know about me." Ralph gave a single, heavy, strong nod, smiling proudly and relieved. Finally Joe had realised what Ralph was trying to ask. "About me?" He repeated, more to himself. "Well, there's not really much to say about me. I grew up with my uncle. He was the guy I was talking to this morning when we left the lab." Ralph nodded understanding. "I've lived with him for as long as I can remember. I don't have parents or siblings. My parents died when I was a baby." He fell slowly quiet as he reached the subject, not just because it made him sad but because he had nothing else to say on it. He didn't even know their names. What was there he could really say? Ralph looked at him, expecting more from him, but there wasn't more. Joe had nothing else to say. They remained silent for the rest of the walk.

After not much more than half an hour's walk in total from Pallet town, the duo came across a small hill. They walked up it, stopped at the top and stood upon the hillside, several kilometres away from the large town of viridian. The clouded sky opened up to reveal beautiful blueness and rays of the sun shone upon the valley below. Joe sighed with relieved exhaustion and chuckled.

"There it is. Viridian Town" He looked to Ralph who was smiling with mild excitement as well. Their first leg of their journey had just been reached. "Well so far it hasn't been so ba-AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!…" Before he could finish his sentence he caught his foot on a root and fell forwards. His face struck the ground but his body kept moving, flipping him over and onto his back. He began to roll uncontrollably down the hill like a rampaging boulder, yelling all the way, back over face over legs over back over face. Ralph flew after him, looking pretty stunned by what he was watching, but not amused. He tried to stop his new friend by flying in front of the falling boy, stopping, holding out his wings and preparing to stop the sudden force that he would receive. This nearly worked if he hadn't made one small mistake. He had no legs to push back against Joe's rolling force. The tumbling mass crashed into the large purple nocturnal predator and they both bowled onwards, a mass of limbs and wings.

Not too far away a girl sat beside a pond, her feet resting in the still silver water. Her long ginger hair flailed about in the mild, gusty air. She wore a yellow, short sleeved shirt and green shorts that matcher her eyes which were emerald like the shallow sea. Next to her a brown star shaped water creature called a Staryu, sat looking deeply into the water, its red jewel at the centre of its body shining with the reflection of the ripples that the girl's feet made. She leaned back, her arms resting on the grass behind her, her head raised, her eyes closed, and breathing in the country air. She had just spent the weekend in Viridian searching for new Pokémon to add to her team and was spending the last few hours she planned to stay there relaxing by a small pond outside the city wall. Unfortunately she didn't see the big ball of purple, black, pale and grey that was Joe and Ralph rolling towards her until it was beyond too late. She heard a quiet rumbling, cries of fear and confusion, opened her eyes in suspicion, turned her head to the left, and… 'CRASH!' The two physical bodies collided and continued rolling on down the hill. The Staryu looked around in sudden shock, watched the ball of three figures escaping into the distance and rolled after them, spinning on its five pointed body and following after its trainer. The huge human and pokémon bodyball rolled on down the hillside. It was eventually stopped finally by a big stone wall lying only a few metres away from the point that the hill touched flat land. The ball collapsed instantly and the three of them lay in a crushed pile, dazed and half conscious.

"…bad" Joe finished finally, managing to push his head out from, what felt like, an elbow. The girl pushed Ralph's wing off her face, sat up and shoved herself onto her feet. She was furious. Her face was steaming pink with infuriation and mild embarrassment.

"What in the hell do you think you are doing!" she shouted. "Watch where you're going!" Joe pushed himself out from under Ralph's other wing and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

"I'm sorry." He apologised, rather uncomfortably. He started to get up onto his feet. The girl didn't look impressed.

"Oh, you're sorry." She replied, crossing her arms for a second before gesturing angrily with them. "Well that just makes everything better doesn't it? My head feels like it's been cracked like a raw egg shell" There was a quiet sort of rumbling sound in the distance. They both looked around to see the staryu that had been sitting next to the girl now rolling after them, cartwheeling down the hill like an escapee wheel. Ralph was attempting to get back up too, but as he did so he saw the staryu heading straight towards him. Before he could react it collided with him and knocked him flat back to the ground again. The two pokémon lay in a brand new motionless heap. Joe and the girl looked down at them, then back at each other. A storm just struck.

"Now look what you've done!" She exclaimed. "You just knocked out my Pokémon!"

"Me?!" Joe exclaimed in a surprised, angry screech. "Your Pokémon collided with mine!".

"Well maybe you shouldn't roll down a hill into people." She commented back

"I tripped."

"Then watch where you're stepping next time." The two teenagers glared at each other with malice and fury.

"What's going on here?" a new voice came from behind them. They turned, suddenly surprised. A tall boy with short blond hair and sharp, intelligent brown eyes stood behind them. He wore a black hoodie that was unzipped and black cargo pants. He had a dark black fringe that covered his right eye but was almost cut of completely on his left side, disappearing into the parting like shadow into a black hole. He looked to be about 4 years older than Joe and he had a sinister aura around him. Something wasn't right with him. Joe couldn't pinpoint what it was, but there was definitely something there. Maybe it was his eyes. They never stopped moving, staring, taking in information upon everything he saw. "Why are you two shouting?" he continued, sounding more monotone and calm now.

"It's nothing." Joe insisted, looking slightly ashamed of the ruckus he had just made. In the corner of his eyes he caught the girl glance at him, disapprovingly. The boy looked at the two unconscious Pokémon that were, to him, a Crobat and a Staryu.

"Really?" He said. Joe nodded. So did the girl after a few seconds. The boy raised an eyebrow, then lowered it back to his slightly suspicious stare. "Well if I were you I'd get those Pokémon seen to by the nurses at the Pokémon centre. They look completely exhausted."

"Pokémon Centre?" Joe turned. He hadn't even noticed what the wall really was. On the wall, only a couple of centimetres away from where they'd crashed, was a tarnished yet old wooden sign. Cut and painted onto it where the words 'Viridian City'. He hadn't even bothered to look at it before. The consideration to do so hadn't crossed his mind past the point where he began to fall. Thinking about it more he did remember seeing a low stone wall around the town from the hillside. It did make surprising sense, even without the sign to confirm it.

"Well thanks for the advice, but…" He had begun to say as he and the girl turned back around from looking at the sign, but suddenly found that the mysterious dark clothed boy had disappeared. There wasn't a sign that anyone had been there at all.

"Where on earth did he go?" the girl asked in genuine confusion.

Joe's mind turned back to Ralph, deciding for the moment that the disappearing boy was not important. He looked down at his new bat-like friend. "He's got a point." He placed his hand underneath Ralph's wings, curled him up into his arms and lifted him up with both hands under him. He was unusually light for being about the same size as him, but considering he was a flying creature it made some shred of biological logic. Ralph lay in Joe's hands like he was a baby being cradled, actually snoring like one, too (On a side note everyone knows that babies do not sleep. They instead spend every night screaming like banshees for reasons that the parents cannot figure out. Members of the Society for the Care, Protection and Healthy Sleep of Parents, or SCPHSP, have put up many complains about this behaviour in local meeting. Votes for a change were unanimous. The babies must go!) He started walking, heading for the wall and into the town.

"Where are you going?" The girl shouted after him. Joe looked back at her, emotionless towards her.

"To heal my Pokémon, not that it matters to you." Joe replied. The girl took out a pokeball and withdrew Staryu back in. She ran after Joe, holding onto her shoulder bag with her free hand, her hair wailing in the air behind her.

"Get back here. You still haven't apologised for crashing into me!"

It was reaching about midday by now and even though Viridian was not a terribly big town it seemed that everyone was out and about. Adults in smart suits walked quickly to and thro, busy heading from their lunch spots to their office building with quick strides. Little children were on a grass playing field, making pretend battles with plush dolls of pikachu's and jigglypuff's. In one area there was actually a proper battle going on. A trainer with a rattata was battling a trainer with a pidgey. The pidgey was winning. Even in one small side alley a duo of shady looking men were doing a deal with a figure completely shadowed in darkness. They chattered, glanced around in case anyone may be watching, then faded away into the gutter. Joe walked on down a large, open, well lit road crowded with traveling people of all ages (mainly middle). Ralph was still unconscious in his arms. He stopped near the end of the street as two very obvious, very unique buildings stood directly in front of him. They both had a Pokémon sign on the side and on the roof but one of the buildings was bigger and had double sliding doors with an orange roof, while the other one was quite a lot smaller with only one sliding door and a blue roof. Joe stood there for a couple of seconds looking up at the buildings. The Girl he had bumped into earlier had finally caught up with him now. She didn't like to consider herself to be following him, but it was pretty much the case, even though she already knew where the pokémon centre was.

"Aren't you going in?" she asked. Joe turned to her, taken by surprise and kicked out of his trail of thought.

"Hmm?" He asked, rather confused but trying not to show it.

"I hope you aren't planning to stand here all day." She told him. "The Pokémon centre is right in front of you, you know." With that she walked up to the orange building and its two sliding glass doors pulled themselves aside with a light rubber and plastic squeak.

"The Pokémon centre?" he asked. She gave him a look.

"What did you think it was?" She questioned. Joe's expression told her everything. It dawned on her. "You seriously didn't…" She started, but decided that making a comment about it probably wasn't the best idea. In the distance there was a bird screech and a cry of victory. The pidgey had won. "You're a new trainer, then?" Winter continued. Joe nodded. "And that is your starter?" She gestured to the unconscious Ralph lying in Joes arms. He was groaning loudly, tossing around like he was stuck in a bad dream.

"Personal choice." Joe answered. She continued to stare at him.

"Well this big orange building is a Pokémon centre. You'll find them in most towns. Very useful places. Whenever your Pokémon are hurt you can just bring them over here and get them healed up within an hour at usual. And the best part is it costs nothing at all." She gestured now at the blue roofed building. "While this is a Pokémart. Here you can buy medicine and equipment for your travels. You usually find them next to Pokémon centres and they also are in most towns. Now let's hurry inside before our Pokémon get any weaker or we both die of old age." And with that she walked inside the Pokémon centre. Joe looked a little shocked, then followed after her.

The inside of the Centre was huge. The floor was made up of different shaded orange tiles which at the centre of the room joined to become one giant poke ball sign. There was a counter at the opposite side of the room that had vases full of flowers on it, a charity box and behind it was a big, bed like structure that had six slots in it, each the exact same size as a pokeball. Beside that was a large, human sized metal and glass case, used for healing a single pokémon outside of its pokeball. Around the room where seats for the patients or trainers to wait at. A selection of doors dotted the back wall. Behind them were the many different emergency rooms and storage rooms needed by the nurses. Not many ever saw what happened in the surgery rooms. Joe stood in awe of the place. The girl was walking up to the counter, hardly seeming taken aback at all. Behind the counter stood a tall, pretty, curly pink haired lady in a nurse uniform and hat. Next to her stood a fat, egg shaped pink pokémon with a smiley face and an egg in its front pocket. The lady looked up and automatically smiled to her.

"Hello." She announced in a quirky, jolly voice "I'm Nurse Joy. I take care of all your Pokémon healing needs. What service can I perform for you today?" The speech sounded like it had been rehearsed a lot, even the smile seemed surgically attacked. Joe wandered if all the Pokémon Centre nurses had to give it to every visitor. He joined the girl at the counter.

"Hello." The girl replied in a more upbeat tone. Surprisingly enough it suited her more than angry did. "My 'friend' and I need to heal up our Pokémon. Would it be okay to leave them here for a while so they can rest up?" Nurse Joy nodded without a seconds thought. The girl had hardly even finished talking by the time she started.

"Of course I can. I'll have it done in a jiffy. If you hand over all the pokémon you're carrying I'll start fixing them immediately." The girl took out her staryu's pokeball and placed it on to the counter. The nurse took it and placed it into the healing device next to her. The pokémon beside her smiled and jumped up and down. The girl turned now to Joe "go on. Put him onto the counter." Joe stepped forward and lay Ralph on the counter. The nurse looked down at him, her expression changing from delightfully happy to intriguingly surprised.

"Now this is an unusual Pokémon." She stated, looking Ralph up and down. "Where did you find it?" Joe fidgeted with his hands.

"I saw him fighting off a bunch of bugs in the middle of the night." Joe responded. "Beedrills to be exact. I kind of saved him from them. It all went from there."

"Does he have a pokéball?" The Nurse asked. Joe nodded.

"Yes, but it's not the usual kind." He unclipped the white pokeball from his belt and placed it onto the counter.

The Nurse too it and lifted it up in her hands, examining it. After a couple of seconds she announced "I've never seen this kind of pokeball before. Is it a new kind that the pokémart are selling, or one of professor Oak's new inventions?" Joe shook his head.

"I don't think so. He never mentioned making one and I've never seen anyone else with one." Nurse Joy placed it back down on the counter. As she did so Joe caught a glimpse of a small carving on the back of the ball, just above the rim joint. It looked like a letter, but what it meant he had no Idea. The nurse clearly hadn't seen it. In fact the ball pretty much popped out of her mind completely within the span of a second.

"I'll heal your Pokémon for you then." She continued with the task at hand. She took the white pokeball Joe had just given her and placed it into the glass case machine. She then lifted Ralph and laid him into the same case machine, lying sleeping on his back with his wings curled around his body, the white ball positioned next to him. She flicked the switches and the machines buzzed with power. The glass case machine cover slid shut, closing Ralph inside. Within the pokeball healing machine the balls glowed almost as bright as the sun. Light flickered all around them. The pokéballs inside pulsed with light, going red, then yellow, then white, then back to yellow and then back to red within a matter of seconds, continuously pulsing. In the other machine Ralph stirred uncomfortably. His eyes flicker as he began to gain consciousness and energy again. His strength was slowly retuning. After a couple more seconds the flashing died down and the machines buzzing turned into a low hum.

"And that's it." Nurse Joy announced in her chirpy voice. "It will take time but your Pokémon will soon be fully healed within an hour."

"That's quite a long time" Joe moaned. "What am I meant to do during that time?"

"You could wait." The girl told him. Their eyes turned to the seats by the door. Five minutes later and they were sitting on those very seats, trying not to fall asleep. It was so boring just waiting and waiting. Joe began tapping his feet, only to receive annoyed looks from the girl who was sitting two seats away from him. He crossed his legs, he twiddled his thumbs, he hummed. All received the same look from the girl. Finally Joe snapped.

"Oh my god is this boring!" He exclaimed aloud, taking everyone in the pokémon centre by surprise. The girl groaned.

"Do you have any patience?" She demanded. "We've been waiting for only seven minutes." Joe groaned under his breath.

"Sorry. I'm not usually this fidgety, but…" He took in a deep breath. "There's nothing I can do while I wait."

"Oh stop moaning, already." The girl complained. "It's not as though anything will happen within that time." As if on cue the doors behind them slid open and there was a loud yelling. Joe and the girl, who was now pretty much waiting with him, spun around to see two men in black clothing had burst through the centre doors. One was tall and skinny while the other was small and chubby with shades over his eyes. There wore black suits and black hats on the top of their heads, with white gloves and boots. They had straw sacks slung over their shoulders and held long barrels handguns in their clenched fists. They were quite literally cartoon stereotypes of criminals. Their eyes locked immediately on the nurse at the counter at the other end of the room.

"Oh!" the girl exclaimed.

"What was that you were saying about nothing happening?" Joe asked, mockingly. She glared at him. The two robbers ran forward, heading for the counter. The nurse just watched, her smile falling a little yet somehow remaining on her face during the whole process.

"Good afternoon, gentlemen." She said, her tone not changing in the slightest at the sight of two armed men. "How can I help you two today? Heal your pokémon from a nasty brawl? Offer a place to rest, away from the offensive eyes of a rival gang? Give you all the money in our charity box? Take a pick, you're most welcome." Joe was amazed by how she was keeping up a charming, jokey perspective considering this was about to become a theft and possible hostage situation. That jolly smile must literally be stuck to her face! The chubby man turned to her and pointed a small, foreign looking gun at her, the log thin barrel nearly tapping her chest from the other side of the counter. The two of them stopped at the counter, hardly noticing the two kids that sat on the seats behind them. It wasn't likely to remain that way. At some point one of them would turn and see them.

"This is a robbery" The smaller robber announced. "Hand over all your Pokémon and pokéballs, now." The nurse gave a small roll of her eyes.

"Well that's an imaginative demand!" The Nurse laughed. Her voice had changed from being sweet and calm to being still sweet and calm but also with a hint of strictness and anger.

"Well go on, start handing them over!" The taller robber demanded, clearly annoyed by her taunting. The nurses smile finally began to fade away.

"You have no right to just burst in here and demand our Pokémon! What makes you think you can go around doing that to other people! I'll have you know that this is most unorthodox..." The smaller robber aimed the gun barrel and clicked the cock, causing her to fall silent from her mocking speech.

"You can either do what we say, or I put an extra hole in you!" He smirked evilly as the gun barrel poked into the nurses chest. The Nurse now officially looked intimidated. Her smile had disappeared completely.

"The boss says that we take your Pokémon, so that's what we're going to do." The taller robber smiled, revealing a full set of ugly yellow teeth. "Now, get back against the wall and put your hands up, Pink-Hair!" The Nurse backed up and held her hands in the air. "Good girl" The robber taunted. There was a small squeak of plastic behind them. Both robbers turned sharply. Even the nurse looked to see. Joe and the girl paused. They had tried to sneak away and call the police by leaving through the front door. Sadly they had forgotten that it squeaked when it opened. The taller robber raised his own gun of the same make and aimed it at the trying to escape children. "Freeze!" He yelled. The kids froze. Joe looked to the girl.

"Damn it!" he muttered as the tall robber began running towards them. They turned to dash through the open door.

"Stop them!" The taller robber shouted. The smaller robber immediately jumped over the counter, ducked under it and pressed a red emergency button on the underside of the desk. The glass doors slammed shut and stuck just as Joe reached it, leaving him and the girl trapped with the robbers. "Don't move!" The taller robber demanded. "Get those hands up in the air!" Joe and the girl held their hands up. The robber grinned evilly and pulled out something silvery and metal. He hung it from two of his fingers, swinging it about like a pendulum as he walked. Then he unlocked the handcuffs he was holding and snapped them around Joe's left wrist and the girl's right wrist. "That should make it tougher for you two to escape." He snarled, nearly spinning on them, his face was so close to theirs. He turned. "Lock them in one of the cupboards." He instructed. The smaller robber nodded.

"Yes sir" He replied. He trotted over and took the place of the taller robber who went back to the counter and began pushing the nurse into a corner. He stopped in front of the two kids and gestured to the right with his gun. "Move it" He growled. He pushed the two children across the room and into a small janitor's cupboard on the far left side of the centre.

"You can't do this!" The girl shouted at him. "This is child abuse!"

"No it isn't." The grunt argued. "I haven't actually hurt you. Well, not yet! Haha!" They tried to fight him but he hardly seemed to feel their punches or struggled jabs as he simply pushed them in and locked the door. Then he walked away, over to join the other robber who had tied up the nurse behind the counter and was beginning to rummage through the pokeball storage rooms.

The janitor's cupboard was cramped and dark. The lightbulb hanging from the roof was smashed and broken. There was no way any form of light was being made from there. The only light in the room was coming in from under the door. Brooms, overalls, mops and buckets were hanging on the back wall on pegs. And Joe was smashing his good shoulder against the metal door, trying to break it off its hinges. It wasn't working. On top of that every time he rammed the door he pulled the girl with him as their wrists were still trapped together. This was making her quite irritated.

"Stop it. It's no use!" She finally snapped after the sixteenth ram. "You're just going to hurt yourself." Joe didn't respond. He just kept ramming his shoulder into the door, desperately trying to break free. It still wasn't working.

"We have to get out of this room." He shouted, his full body and mind focused on bashing down the large metal locked door. "Ralph's in there! They might hurt him, or even kidnap him! I only just got given him this morning! I can't let them hurt him!"

"You named that giant bat thing 'Ralph'?" She asked. "And I was still struggling to tell myself that he was your starter pokémon. What is he?"

"He's a Crobat if you must know." Joe told her, bashing his shoulder against the door again.

"Crobat? What is that? A new species of zubat? A rare evolution I've never seen or heard of before?" She asked.

"Does it matter?" Joe snapped. "Those men are robbing the centre and Ralph, the Nurse and us two are all in danger! We have to get out of this damn… janitors… closet!" He grunted in-between rams, leading to saying the last of the sentence with a small delay in-between each word.

"Well ramming yourself against a solid metal door isn't going to help." The girl continued. Joe growled in anger. Then he winced suddenly and clenched his hand on his shoulder. He yelled in pain and leaned against the cold metal. Suddenly the girl was concerned.

"What's wrong?" She asked. Joe groaned, gripping his wound. The attack he had received from the beedrill that morning was opened again and stinging like hell. He clenched his jaw in pain.

"My shoulder." He managed to reply between gritted teeth. "Stung by a beedrill. Last night." He winced again and slid down till he was sitting propped against the door. "It hurts like nothing I've ever felt before." He exclaimed. The girl thought for a second, then lifted her waist bag.

"One second." She unzipped the bag and rummaged around for a couple of seconds. When she finally pulled her hand back out she was holding a small rectangular plastic vile of purple liquid with a spray nozzle on the top. It looked like some kind of strange medicine. She lay the bag down and knelt down by Joe's side.

"Show me where you were stung." She said. Joe pointed to his left shoulder. He lifted his sleeve up to show a bandage that Professor Oak had placed on the wound to keep it clean and uninfected. The last time he'd checked on it, it was pale red and looked to be healing. Now it had gone crimson. Joe fought back a desperate need to scratch it. The girl unwrapped it slowly to reveal his shoulder underneath. The skin had gone pail around the cut and the purple red venom still in it was beginning to ooze through the gap and poke up the skin. Joe fought back a desperate need to scratch it. "Hold still" the girl told him. She lifted the plastic vile up to the wound and her finger squeezed the trigger in. The purple liquid sprayed out in a small cloud of water droplets. Joe expected it to sting as the liquid hit the wound but it didn't. If anything it numbed the pain. He looks at the wound and saw that it was already beginning to heal over.

"Antidote" the girl told him. "They're meant for Pokémon but are just as useful for fixing up poisoned people. Nifty stuff they sell in the pokémart, isn't it. "Joe looked away from his wound and up to see her kneeling in front of him. Their faces were so close to each other, hardly a noses width away. He suddenly realised that her eyes were incredibly bright. He looked away. She sat back, giving him more space after realising the awkwardness.

"Thanks." Joe replied eventually, as he began lifted himself back up onto his feat. He felt his strength coming back to his arm and the stinging had almost stopped completely. "I, uh, don't think we've properly introduced ourselves." Joe pointed out. He held out a hand "My name's Joe." The girl took his hand in her own and shook it.

"I'm Winter" She told him. Joe gave a raised eyebrow smile.

"Winter, huh." He repeated "Great name. Do you have two sisters called Summer and Autumn and a brother called Spring?" She blushed.

"Not exactly." she said, her face turning pink. "I'm a single child. No siblings."

"No kidding." Joe said. "So am I. What a coincidence." They chuckled awkwardly. There was a following silence.

"We should try and get out of here." Joe said finally. "But how do we do that?" The two of them looked around in the dark for a possible answer.

"Well there aren't many options." Winter noted.

"I don't imagine ramming the door down will work, will it?" Joe asked, hopefully.

"No, I don't think it will." Winter told him.

"Oh." Joe looked crestfallen. They looked around in the dark for another several minutes. Then, finally, they found something.

"Over here." Winter called. Joe joined her. She was looking up at a small ventilation shaft in the wall side, just big enough for a child or young teenager to sit or crawl in. Surprisingly convenient for their situation "Here." She continued. "If we took the vent cover off we could crawl through the shaft till we found a point we could get out through."

Joe smiles at her "Brilliant!" he exclaimed. She blushed.

"Thank you!"

"Only problem is…" Joe pointed out. "How are we going to get the vent cover off? We don't have any tools or Pokémon that could take them off."

"Actually we do." Winter interrupted. Joe looked at her.

"We left our pokémon at the counter. How do we…" He paused, his expression becoming both excited and stunned. "Don't tell me you have something like a screwdriver or something in your pocket!" She looked at him.

"What? No!" She unhooked a lone pokéball off her belt and held it in her hand. "I have a second pokémon." Joe felt a little humiliated.

"Oh. Of course." Winter nodded. She threw the pokeball up into the air. Before it hit the floor the ball stopped and flicked open. A ray of white light shot out and reformed itself. When the light had fully left the ball it slammed shut again and flew back into winter's held out hand. Where the light had hit stood a small, blue circular Pokémon with a white and black swirl on its belly, a short flat tail and two large, innocent eyes.

"What kind of pokémon is that?" Joe asked.

"A Poliwag." Winter replied. She then turned to her pokémon. "Stream" She called. The poliwag turned around to face her.

"Poli?" It asked in a high pitch cute voice.

"See that vent up there?" Winter pointed at the vent. Stream the poliwag turned, looked up, then turned back and nodded. "Could you shoot the cover off for us, please?" She instructed. Stream nodded and turned fully around. It breathed in, its mouth pouch swelled up, and it shot a jet of water out of its mouth at the vent. The vent bent slightly. "Try again." Winter told it. Stream fired again. The vent bent a little. "Again." Stream fired another jet, then another, then another, then another, then another. Finally, after several minutes of trying, the vent cover swung off, still hanging from one hinge.

"Good job, Stream." Winter told her pokémon, then she opened up the pokeball and pulled him inside again.

"Great, now let's get out of here" Joe said with relief. The two of them hurried up to the vent and stopped at the now open hole.

"Give me a boost up." Winter instructed.

"Ok" Joe held his hands out low. Winter lifted her leg up onto his flat palms and pushed herself up and into the vent. Joe kept his eyes down for the sake of decency. Winter was just about able to kneel down and crawl on all fours to get inside. When she was fully in she twisted around and held out a hand for Joe to grab. He took it and pulled himself in to join her. The two of them struggled to lift him in but did manage to do so. Once they were both inside the vent they sat with their backs to the cold metal walling and their necks bent so they didn't keep hitting the roof with their heads.

"Now where?" Joe asked, after banging the back of his head for the second time. Winter shrugged, unsure.

"We should probably find a way into the entrance lobby." Winter decided. "Maybe we could find a way out of the building all together. If not then there'll be a button under the front desk that can unlock the doors. That's what that grunt pressed to shut them in the first place."

"Good Idea. But how do we get there?" They looked down the ventilation shaft they had crawled into. It went on ahead for a few feet or so before taking a sharp right turn.

"Down there, I would guess." Winter decided. They crawled forwards, trying not to crush

each other in the narrow space and quickly they found the short trek very uncomfortable.

"You know, when I thought about what my adventure with pokémon would be like this wasn't what I had in mind." Joe muttered, more to himself. His quiet whisper echoed of the metallic wall. Winter sniggered.

"Yeah, well neither did I." A few seconds later they could hear the distant sound of heated communication. It sounded like the two criminals. They were talking to each other about something, but at this range it was tough to understand what. As Joe and Winter crawled on they could make out more of it. They eventually came across another vent cover on the steel floor. The sound of conversation was coming from this point and it sounded much more audible here, too. Joe cocked an ear and was able to pick up some small details mentioned.

"Keep rummaging. We need to nab as many of these balls as we can. The boss said we need around a hundred or so. Keep looking for full ones."

"One hundred pokéballs." Joe gasped and pondered. "Why would criminals want pokéballs? They only sell for a pound each at most stores. They're worthless in comparison to jewellery or other expensive stuff." Winter shook her head.

"Didn't you hear the last bit? They're looking for pokéballs that are full. That means pokéballs with pokémon inside them. Pokémon which the nurses here keep and take care of for trainers and for doctors."

"They want to steal pokémon?" Joe asked in a slightly less hushed whisper. "Why would thieves want to do that?"

"Because they sell well." Winter explained. "If you sell them to the right people." She paused for a second. "There was a group eight years ago that run on activity like that, buy they disappeared ages ago." She looked at them. "You don't think it's possible…" She stopped. Joe looked at her.

"What?" He asked. She was motionless for a second, thinking of into space. Then she shook her head.

"No. Sorry. It was a silly idea. That can't be." Joe continued to look at her.

"What where you going to say?" He pestered. Winter waved a hand, dismissing him.

"It's nothing. Don't worry about it. Now, shut up a second. I have a plan." Joe sighed and let the thought fade away to the back of his head. Winter saw that he was listening again and began to speak her plan.

Ralph lay motionless in his glass coffin, or at least he had assumed it was a coffin. It was rectangular. There was constant sound. The sound of constant movement. Someone was struggling to his left. It sounded like someone was tied up next to the coffin. He kept his eyes closed, just in case this wasn't a situation in which he wanted to be seen as awake. He could be surrounded by anything. In a situation like this it was best to wait and listen. If he looked asleep or dead then maybe, whatever it was moving about, wouldn't bother him. He heard muffled moaning and crying. His ears twitched. It sounded like a person. His mind began piecing the sounds together. Struggling. Muffled cries. Someone had been tied up and gagged and left beside him. He heard more noise now. The sound of rummaging to his far right. Multiple objects bounced of the sleek plastic flooring. They sounded circular in the way they bounced for a short time then rolled. More voices became audible to him now. These ones were distinctly masculine and not muffled or distorted in any way.

"Watch how you grab those things! Do you want to drop them everywhere?" One voice snapped.

"Uh, sorry. There's just so many and I can only carry so few." Another voice complained.

"That's why you have a bag!" The previous voice told the second voice. Ralph felt confused by the words they used. They had such a slang form of accent it was tough to understand each word. When his mind finally figured out what they had said his eyebrows shot up. They were thieves. His combination of the sounds from a person tied up and the use of words like 'Bag' and 'Carry' and 'Things' had hinted the idea to him. He decided it had been a good idea to remain quiet during this escapade. Then another sound came in. It sounded like a metal grate being slowly and carefully removed from somewhere above and to the right of him. Ralph stayed motionless, his eyes closed shut. He didn't know what this sound was. He didn't want to alert or upset it. Then there what the sound of quiet grunting and something relatively light landing on the ground, followed by a small gasp as it landed on all fours. Ralph felt confused. That didn't sound right. What was there that made a metallic scrapping sound, then a landing on four legs sound? He heard quiet whispering. It sounded like 'Ok. I'll go get Ralph and Staryu and unlock the door. You get ready to run out and call the police.' Another whispering voice said 'Ok.' Then he heard something crawling towards him in his glass cocoon. He tensed his body, ready to attack whatever it was if it got too close. Then the sound of a button being pressed and machinery whirring. Finally Ralph decided to open his eyes. He was looking up at the light orange roof through the top of the glass case. To his surprise it was sliding open to the right and left. Someone was letting him out of the coffin. Then a face came into view. He was about to lash out and strike when he heard a voice.

"Shh! Stay quiet, Ralph! It's just me! Don't make any noise!" As his vision became used to the light he realised who it was standing over him. He smiled, gratefully and tensed down. It was Joe.

"Wake up, buddy." He whispered. "We've got a job to do."

Ralph slowly and carefully pushed himself into a sitting position on his tiny feet, careful to not make any noise. Joe helped him up and hugged him awkwardly.

"Thank god they didn't get you." He whispered. Ralph looked a little shocked. Then he embraced his trainer. They stood hugging for only a few seconds. Then Joe let go and knelt down to Nurse Joy who was lying with her back to the wall under the counter, tied up with rope and a gag in her mouth. "I've just got to free the nurse, quickly." Joe muttered as he tugged on the rope. Ralph climbed slowly onto the glass case he had been trapped inside, now free. He remained quiet, watching the freeing in progress.

"Hurry up and get the door open already." A girl whispered from a few feet away from the counter. (At this point Ralph didn't know that she and Joe were helping each other or that she even had a name. He had only seen her for a few seconds before being knocked out by her Staryu.)

"Nearly done." Joe whispered back. Ralph jumped down from the glass case and floated to the ground by Joe's side. He looked at his trainer who looked back, leaned forwards and bit into all three ropes around the nurse. He chewed on them for several seconds before eventually spitting out the cut cords. The nurse shrugged the ropes free and pulled out the gag. She breathed gratefully. Then she began cursing.

"God damn lazy sacks of putrid stagnant sons of…" Joe shoved the gag back in her mouth.

"Quiet!" He hissed. "They're right next door." He pointed to the doorway on the right, leading into one of the storage rooms. The nurse nodded slowly in understanding.

"Right. Sorry." She whispered as the gag was removed again. Joe nodded then looked over the counter to Winter.

"She's ok, I think." He whispered.

"Great. Now pass me Staryu's pokeball!" She whispered back. Joe reached into the healing device at the counter and threw Winter her pokeball. She caught it with ease. "Ok, now get the door open." Joe knelt back down under the desk and reached for the button. Before he pushed it he quickly turned to the nurse.

"Once I push this they're likely to hear the door open. That means they'll come running out and see that Winter's got out. We need to give her time to get the police here and keep the criminals occupied so they can't get out." He waited for her to take the information in before continuing. "Do you have any pokémon on you that can fight?" He asked finally.

She nodded "I have Chansey." She told him. Joe nodded in approval.

"That'll do." He said, and he pressed the button.

…

"I must have around enough by now" The taller robber said.

"Keep collecting." The smaller robber replied "We need to get as many as we can. We won't get paid if we don't find at least a hundred." There was the sudden, quiet sound of plastic squeaking from within the lobby. Both criminals froze. They looked at each other.

"That sounded like the front door." The taller one said. Then they both dropped their bags and ran through the doorway. They entered just in time to see the sliding glass doors sliding shut. The smaller grunt roared in anger.

"They're escaping!" He thundered. "Get after them!" Both grunts ran for the door. Then, suddenly, something struck both men in the legs and tripped them up. "Gyaaah!" They cried as their faces struck the cold tiles. They rolled onto their backs and looked around. Nothing was there.

"What was that?" The taller one groaned in pain, rubbing his face.

"I don't know." The smaller one told him. "But somehow they've gotten out. The rest of them must be hiding in here somewhere. Find them!" The tall grunt stood up. Something large, white and oval shaped came flying out from behind the counter and smashed into his face, knocking him to the ground again.

"Ouch!" He yelled, grabbing his face and wiping yolk and shell of it. "That was an egg! A freaking egg!" The smaller grunt stood up himself. He was not pelted by large flying eggs. He walked forwards slowly, gripping his gun.

"Meddling kids!" He muttered. He began aiming his gun around, searching for something to shoot. "Where are you, you little punks?" He scowled. From somewhere in the room a response came.

"That's rich coming from a criminal!" The smaller robber growled in frustration. He walked under the vent in the roof. Unfortunately he did not look up. If he had he would have seen two large yellow eyes looking down at him from inside. Something dropped down behind him. Four purple wings spread out from his back. The taller criminal gasped from where he was lying. The smaller criminal turned around slowly. He stared at the thing in front of him.

"What the…" He managed to say. Then the wings closed around him and he disappear. Only his legs were left visible hanging out from the bottom of the grip. The taller criminal watched as his partner was hugged to pain by a four winged man sized purple bat. From within the embrace he could hear the muffled yells of surprise and fear from the smaller criminal. Ralph spun him around in his grip, scaring the living daylights out of the man. Then he let go, sending him flying across the room and across the floor, sliding to a stop at the other criminals side. His gun went skidding away to the side, harmlessly out of reach. Both criminals lay on their backs, exhausted and beaten, looking at the creature in front of them. It shot forwards with hardly a flash of colour and suddenly it was face to face with the two of them, its long edged wing pushing against both of their necks. It growled at them with a large fanged mouth. It glared deep into their souls with two huge yellow eyes. Both men whimpered like babies under its gaze.

"Please, for the love of god don't eat us!" The taller criminal pleaded.

"Or take us back to your lair and save us for later!" The smaller criminal added. From behind the counter there was the sound of laughing. Then three figures came into view, standing up from behind it. One of them was a nurse and beside her was a rather happy looking chansey. The other was a boy, the same boy they had locked up earlier. The boy walked around the counter and strolled calmly up towards the two criminals, hardly seeming concerned by the huge winged beast pinning them to the ground.

"That was truly amazing, Ralph." Joe told his man-sized bat friend, patting him on the back. Ralph smiled at him. He was glad for the appreciation. He had just risked his life and come out unharmed.

"Get this thing off of us!" The short grunt exclaimed, terrified by Ralph. Joe looked at him.

"Don't call him thing. He has a name, you know." Joe snapped at him. The criminal looked annoyed and terrified. This was an interesting expression to look at it. It was wide eyed and panting with tilted in eyebrows and an unhappy mouth.

"Please! Just let us go! We won't hurt you! We swear! Just let us get out of here, before…" Before he could even finish he was too late. The two glass doors slid open and seven police officers rushed in, aiming guns and shouting 'Freeze!' The grunts saw them and tried to crawl away, but Ralph grabbed them by the collars with his teeth and dragged them kicking and screaming to the police officers. The officers grabbed the criminals by the wrists and held them still.

"Are these the criminals you saw earlier?" One of the policemen asked. Winter pushed her way through the group and in front, looking at the two crooks. She nodded immediately.

"That's them, officer." She said, a hint of malice in her voice. The officer nodded.

"Right! Take 'em away, boys!" The two police officers holding the criminals pulled out handcuffs. The two criminals began struggling again.

"Hey, we ain't done nothin'!" The taller one tried. The police officer dragging him scoffed.

"Yeah, right. Like we haven't heard that one a million times before."

The smaller criminal didn't struggle or say anything. He simply looked back at Joe and cursed him. "You've made yourself a big enemy today, boy. You cross Team Rocket, you pay!" Before he could say anything else the two criminals were dragged from the pokémon centre and shoved into a police car. Once they were gone the remaining five policemen began clearing the area for evidence and any other criminals hiding anywhere. One of them went into the back room and brought out the bags the criminals had stuffed full of used pokéballs. He handed the bags to the police sergeant who then handed it to a rookie to be packed into another police car and taken for evidence. Joe and Winter were standing in the middle of the room, congratulating each other.

"You managed to convince them to get over here?" Joe asked. She nodded.

"Yep. It wasn't actually that tough. All I said was 'There's a robbery at the pokémon centre' and they came riding over in no time flat." She smiled at him. "Why? Did you doubt me?"

"No. Of course not." He said disarmingly. Then he smiled back. "Not for a second." She blushed a little.

"The plan worked then?" she asked, rhetorically.

"It sure did." He replied. "Thankfully Ralph had his strength back by then. He took them both out with ease." Ralph smiled happily at the mention of his name. Then the trio noticed the police sergeant standing over them. They turned. He bowed his head in thanks.

"We're lucky you were here." He told the two children, speaking in a thick stereotypical cockney policeman accent. "If you hadn't stopped them, these two would have gotten away with almost one hundred Pokémon. It was very brave for you both to put your lives at risk like that. Good work, kids" He patted Joe and Winter on the shoulder.

"It was nothing." Joe said sheepishly. Being hailed as some kind of hero felt weird to him. He'd just done it so that he and his friend wouldn't be in danger. From his perspective what he had done was more selfish then protective. The sergeant smiled.

"Oh, and just between us. If you ever get in trouble again in the area just contact me at the station. Ask for Sergeant Winston of C division at the desk and me and the boys will come running." He then walked away and joined the other officers. Winter and Joe smiled at each other.

"Was this anything like what you were expecting on your first day as a trainer?" She asked. Joe chuckled and shook his head slightly.

"No. I was excepting it to be less exciting." She laughed. So did him. Then the doors slid open and a bunch of journalist with camera crews came running in, shouting their claims.

"Hold the inquiry!" The loudest one up front shouted, running up to the police officers. The cameramen and other journalists followed closely behind her. "We would like to interview the witnesses for the news."

"Well they're going through a bit of stress at the moment as they've been under captive for the last ten minutes, and there's nothing that me or my men can add about the situation as of this moment…" The Sergeant then gestured to the Nurse who was now back at the counter and she seemed to be gaining her confidence back. "But I think that she may be able to answer any of the questions you have." Immediately all the camera crews rushed over to the counter and ganged around Nurse Joy and Chansey who were sitting on a foam chair, recuperating from the shock of the event. The sergeant winked at the two children and flicked his head to the door.

"I think it's time we got out of here." Winter decided..

"Good idea." Joe agreed. "Before they start interviewing us, too. Let's go."

…

Half an hour later they were outside in the cold air, sitting on a bench, drinking cold beverages, watching the sun start to fall slightly from above. Just the three of them. Joe looked down at the new silver pokétch that he had just bought with his money. It was a new style of watch that had come all the way from Sinnoh, across the sea. The time on it said 5:47PM. Ralph was flying around, which was pretty much his way of enjoying his spare time. He was grateful to be free from his glass prison in the pokémon centre and was wasting his renewed energy on being as free as he could possibly be at that point. The two trainers sat in silence for a while. Then Winter turned to Joe.

"What are you going to do now?" She asked. She sat here drink down on the side of the bench next to her bag.

Joe pondered this for a second. "I don't know." He simply replied. "I'll probably head on through Viridian forest to the next town. Professor Oak asked me to help him fill up his Pokédex so I'll probably work on that." Winter nodded, understanding.

"There's always the gyms." She pointed out. "They accept trainer battles. You beat all eight of them and maybe you could even end up facing the elite four, up at Indigo Plateau. Joe scoffed.

"I don't think I'll ever be that good." He told her. She shrugged,

"Well you don't know till you try. I mean you and Ralph basically took out two armed criminals without being hurt or killed. That's got to mean something." Joe thought about that. It had seemed surprisingly easy. He had just assumed that the criminals where dumb, but Ralph had known exactly when and where to hit them to take them out so easily.

"I guess I could." He ended up saying. "But to get that far I'd have to train really hard and for a long time. And I'd have to catch more Pokémon for my team. Ralph's good and all but if he takes on an electric type or an ice or rock type he'll really struggle." She nodded in agreement.

"That sounds like a good plan to me. And it also means you'll have more friends in your pokémon party." If Joe hadn't heard this phrase before he would have assumed Winter was mad. A Pokémon Party is the group of pokémon that a trainer carries around with them and uses in battle. Usually it consists of a maximum number of six pokémon, minimum of one, but there have been some exceptions. For example in some cases a trainer may have an extra pokémon with them that doesn't participate in battles but instead just watches and accompanies the trainer. Joe already knew this information.

"Alright then." He said, standing up suddenly. "Yeah. I'm going to take on the Gym Leaders and collect all eight badges. That shall be my first target in my journey."

"That'll take you a long time." Winter told him. "Several months if you're lucky. Several years if you're not."

"I'm still going to try." Joe said to her. "I can do it." He called over to Ralph. "Hey, Ralph. Come on. We're going." Ralph turned and flapped his way over to Joe.

"Well good luck." Winter said. Joe looked down at her, a little surprised.

"You could join me if you want." He invited. She shook her head.

"It's alright. I've got my own Pokémon to train as well. Besides, I can't make you take me along." Ralph arrived at the scene. His smiling, happy face looking at Winter. Winter found herself smiled back, much to her embarrassed wish not to.

"Go on." Joe persisted. "We make a great team." Winter sighed. She gave in fighting it. She wanted to join them just as much as they did.

"Well I'm heading to Cerulean City anyway and you're going that way." She stood up. "So I guess I'll join you. For now at least." Ralph did a small summersault in the air in delight.

"Fantastic" Joe declared. "Well what's the point waiting around here? Let's get going!" The three of them turned and walked of the grass park, following the road and heading for Viridian forest to the north. Unbeknown to them a shadowed figure watched from the distance. They looked, smiled and faded into the black shadows around them.


	3. Chapter 3: Viridian Forest

The campfire burned bright in the darkened cold air. It was the only thing around that was providing any light at this point of the night. Three hours had passed since Joe, Ralph, and their new friend Winter, had entered Viridian Forest and had since taken up camp not too far from the entrance. Joe lay with his back on the leaves and grass that made up the forest floor, his head propped up against a log. Ralph lay next to him, snoring away soundly. Winter was propped against another log on the opposite side of the campfire. She was wearing a big, furry, dark green coat over her body and she was still awake. So was Joe. He'd been looking over the White pokeball that was Ralphs, holding it in his palm and turning it over and over. Winter looked at him, then at Ralph a few feet away from him.

"He's out cold." She announced suddenly. Joe stirred surprised. He looked up at her, then turned his attention to his sleeping crobat friend. He smiled.

"He is rather." He agreed. "I bet a stampede couldn't wake him." They both laughed nervously. The fire flickered and threw embers as the wood began to break apart.

"What are you holding?" Winter asked a minute later. Joe looked down at the pokéball in his hands.

"It's Ralph's pokéball." He told her. He continued to turn it over and over between his fingers.

"Well if it's just a pokéball why are you looking at it like it's some kind of puzzle piece?" she asked.

"It's not the average kind of pokéball." He explained. "It's… different."

"Let me see." She got up and walked over to join him. She sat down next to him and out a hand. "Pass it here." He thought about it for a second, then, hesitantly, placed the ball in her palm. She took the pokeball and examined it. She too rolled it over and over in her hands, expecting the odd detail.

"I see what you mean." She said eventually. "It's white."

"That's not the only thing." Joe added. He took the pokéball back and turned it over so the back was facing out. "See here." He pointed to the joint rim. Carved underneath the hinge, in small writing, barely visible, was the letter 'G'. "What do you think that stands for?" He asked.

Winter thought for a couple of seconds. "I don't know. It could stand for anything." She concluded. "Maybe 'Great' as in 'Great Ball'?"

"Maybe, but that doesn't make sense. Great balls are blue aren't they, not white." He put the ball on his lap and turned to her. "But you see, when I first found Ralph, he had a small paper tag on the back of his ear. It had a name on it. His name. I didn't choose it. It's the name he responds to. Ralph is his actually name. And I've just noticed that this pokéball has a small G on it." He stopped for a second to allow the information to sink in. "You see, with two pieces of evidence like that it narrows down most possibilities. It's not likely a brand. I don't know any pokémon brands with a G logo. It's also not a symbol. Again, G isn't a symbol for anything. That narrows it down to only one real option. I think that it's the initials for the original owner. "He saw Winter's face as she tried to contemplate the information he had just spewed.

"Oh." She said finally "But initials are usually 2 letters usually, not just 1." She tried to argue. Joe thought about this and nodded.

"Hmm." Joe agreed. "But like I said, it's only a thought." The night silence suddenly crept in again. Only Ralph's snoring, the crackling fire and the occasional cricket broke it.

"Why did you become a Pokémon trainer, Joe?" Winter asked suddenly.

"Hmm?" Joe asked. He had almost dosed off.

"I said, why did you choose to become a Pokémon trainer?" She repeated

"I don't know. Why did you become a trainer?" He asked back.

"Well, because it's fun and you learn a lot in your time." She told him.

"Oh, good point." Joe began. "I guess it was because I wanted to have an adventure. I spent my entire life growing up on a farm with my uncle. I grew up around Pokémon, yes, but I never actually did any catching or battling."

"You didn't live with your parents?" Winter asked.

"I didn't know them." Joe replied "They died when I was very young."

"Oh." Winter looked embarrassed. "I'm sorry. I didn't know." She sounded regretful about bringing it up.

"It's not your fault." Joe told her, relaxing back onto the log. "How were you to know?"

The night made the odd and slow colourful transition into day. The moon disappeared behind the tall trees of the forest and on the opposite side the sun took its place, bringing its beautiful red ocean of light in front of it. Joe's eyes lifted. The sun was glistening as a fiery orb at the edge of the sky. The sun's rays were bleeding through the forest edge and spraying the ground with light particles. The campfire was nothing but ashes now, colder than stone. He looked to the side of him. In his sleep, Ralph had rolled over and was now lying on Joes left arm. He shrugged him off and his new friend slipped down to the leaf covered floor. Winter had also somehow fallen asleep on his right arm. Her head rested against his shoulder, her long ginger hair washing over it like a fiery waterfall on a mountainside. Joe thought that this should have been more alarming then it was but he was too tired to attempt to push her off, at least he told himself that was the reason. As Joes senses came back into slow, buffering action he realised he could hear a rustling of plastic and paper coming from the other side of the camp. At first he assumed it was Winter looking through her bag, then he remembered that she was still asleep next to him. He sat up slowly. As he looked around he saw that his bag was indeed lying where he'd left it, a few feet away by another log… and something was indeed rummaging through it. The bag itself had been pulled over and unzipped and a small, flat, bolt shaped yellow and brown tail was waiving about out of the end. The tail moved back and a yellow back with brown stripes came into view. Then two long yellow and black ears poked out. Joe saw properly what it was now. A tinny, unaware, young looking pikachu was rolling out an apple from his bag. It picked up the apple and took a big bite out of the side. It then reached its tiny hand in and pulled out a couple of apple pips. Carelessly it popped them into its mouth and munched away happily. Joe slowly rose to his feet. The pikachu didn't seem to notice him only a few feet away. He stepped forwards cautiously. Its ears pricked up suddenly. Its nose twitched and its body froze. It had only just noticed his existence.

"Hey, that's my food!" Joe yelled. The pikachu stopped munching and looked straight at him, a surprised expression on its face. Then it dashed off, the apple hanging from its mouth. Joe ran after it. "Come back here with that apple." Not surprisingly the shouting woke up Winter and Ralph.

"Wha...! What's going on?" She asked. She opened her eyes quick enough to see Joe running off into the forest. "Where are you going?" She yelled after him. But Joe did not respond. Instead he sped off, disappearing in between the trees.

Joe ran on, hardly looking where he was going and pushing his way through the forest. He ducked under branches and ran through bushes digging up the floor with his heels. Pidgey's burst out of the grass, startled by the rampaging trainer who had just burst through their homes. The pikachu had almost disappeared out of sight now, its waiving thin tail the only thing giving it away as it disappeared into bushes. Just as Joe was beginning to catch up with the evasive mouse his foot caught against something soft, squidgy and hairy, causing him to trip forwards, landing on his face in the leaves.

"Ouch!" He exclaimed. Behind him he heard something gurgle and complain. He rolled over to see what he'd fallen over. Only a couple of inches away from his feet was a small, hair covered brown-green worm bug with a small stinger on its forehead and tail tip, rolling on its back, trying to get itself back up. It got back onto its multiple small dot feet and looked angrily at him. Joe looked back, rather surprised.

"Oh, hell!" He exclaimed. The worm pulled back its head and shot a long line of silky white string out from its mouth which wrapped around Joes feet, stopping him from moving his legs and standing up. "Hey" He complained. He tried to pull the string off but it was much tougher than it had first looked. It was tighter then rope made of solid iron. He tried sliding it off but it stuck fast to his ankles, not budging in any way. Winter and Ralph burst onto the scene. She was carrying the bags and Joe's equipment with her while Ralph was still trying to wake up. He had twigs sticking out from behind his ears and under his wings where he'd crashed subconsciously into trees. The worm pokémon was now beginning to slide away back into the woods, leaving its assailant behind.

"Ralph!" Joe shouted, aggravated. "Get this stuff off of me!" Ralph yawned, rolled his eyes, flew over to Joe, floated down to his ankles and bit on the silk string.

"Is that a weedle?" Winter thought aloud, spotting the small hairy bug that was crawling away. "Why were you chasing after a weedle?"

"I wasn't." Joe explained, looking and sounding both annoyed and humiliated. "I was chasing after a pikachu that was stealing from my bag. Winter hardly looked surprised. She just nodded as if she'd just learned the last digit on an electronic lock code.

"Oh. So that's why it was open and spread everywhere." Joe just huffed and kicked his feet, trying to get the string off. This didn't do anything except cause Ralph to flinch and jump in the air. A second of chewing later the silk string snapped and fell away in ropy shreds. Joe stretched out his legs and jumped back onto his feet. He quickly turned and glared at the escaping bug which didn't look back, assuming that Joe wasn't going to come after it. It was sadly wrong.

"Ok" Joe shouted, enraged from being attacked. "Ralph, take that thing out. Use wing attack!" He threw out a hand and pointed to the exiting hairy bug. Ralph turned to watch it. He sighed and shut his eyes but followed orders, flying forwards at light speed and slashed his wing upwards on the hairy bug. The creature yelled in surprise with the sudden force on its back and stomach, and then it was flying up and up into the air like a fuzzy insect rocket. And then it began to fall back down again, plummeting like a stone with spikes and fur.

"Don't let it hit the floor!" Winter shouted, worried. "It'll hurt itself! You can't let the poor thing get hurt!"

"What?" Joe asked. "It attacked me first."

"So? You shouldn't just leave it to hurt itself." Winter told him. "Catch it with a pokeball or something" Joe thought for a second and then all at once remembered. He didn't have any other Pokémon on his team currently. This was mainly due to the fact that he hadn't actually run into any wiled pokémon since he'd got given a couple of pokéballs by his uncle. Part of being a trainer was catching more pokémon from areas like forests, rivers and tall grass, so this was the perfect opportunity for Joe to catch his second team member. He smiled

"Pass me my bag." He said. Winter held his bag out, the strap hanging from her right arm. He took his bag, pulled out an empty pokéball and pulled back his arm. The weedle was falling faster and faster, gaining speed, wailing like a fog horn. It was hardly three metres from the ground now. Joe threw the pokéball at the falling Pokémon. The ball sailed like a stone through the air, flying in a red and white arc. It tapped the weedle on the side before it hit the floor and the ball snapped open, bursting with light. A beam of white light shot out from inside, engulfed the weedle in its brightness, turned it into the same coloured light, sucked it in with the beam, and then slammed shut. The ball dropped to the floor with a light 'F'tunk' and made a small collection of bleeps. Joe stood in anticipation, waiting for what would happen next. Winter was looking quite surprised.

"You caught it in mid-air!" She gasped. "In Mid-Air!" Ralph also looked quite stunned by his trainer's accuracy. Joe didn't pay either of them attention. His focus was on the recently thrown pokeball which had just snapped shut on a recently wild weedle. The ball began to shake intermittently, at least once every two seconds, emitting the same bleeping noise every time it moved. The shaking went on for a while. Sweat beads began to form on Joes head. He was so concentrated on the movement of the circular tool. Ralph's flapping slowed to a quiet flutter and then a stationary hover, keeping aware in case the Pokémon broke free. That was a possibility for these events. A pokémon that was healthy enough could manage to break back out of a caught-in pokeball. This went on for almost a minute, leaving everyone frozen with tension. And then there was a small click and the ball stopped shaking. Joe's jaw fell. He'd just caught himself his first pokémon. He was amazed. It had been so easy. Was it really meant to be that simple? It had taken Joe by surprise how easy being a trainer could be, yet also how tough it was also proving to be. Ralph flew to his side, looking just as surprise. They turned to each other. Then they smiled.

"Alright!" Joe cheered, throwing a fist into the air. Ralph cheered as well, raising his own wing up.

"Congrats. You just caught yourself a pokémon." Winter said, not exactly sounding impressed but at the same time showing her support and congratulations. "You were quite lucky to get it in one go. It doesn't always work first time around, especially considering that it was quite healthy when you threw the ball."

"I know!" Joe exclaimed. He jumped, pumping his arms in excitement. He landed and turned back to Ralph again. "High-Five!" He held his open palm in the air to Ralph. Ralph stared back at it, unsure what to do. Joe's smile fell a little. "Go on" He encouraged "Hit my hand with your wing." Ralph continued to look at him, confused. "You're meant to hit my hand with your wing." Joe explained. "That's how you do a high-five." Ralph hesitated for a second and then slapped his front right wing on Joe's hand. "That's it. You got it!" Joe told him proudly as he shook the pain from his hand. Ralph had a surprisingly sharp slap for a flying creature. His palm was going red where it had been bruised. Once he had managed to knock most of the pain away he remembered the caught weedle and ran over to the pokeball, picking it up with his other hand. He held the ball and smiled. "We did it, Buddy." He said, the excitement welling up in him. "We've caught our first Pokémon" Just then there was a beeping coming from his bag pocket. Joe turned in surprise to the sound. He slid his hand inside and pulled out the Pokédex that professor Oak had given him back in Pallet Town. He flicked the lid up and saw that the Pokédex was adding data on Weedle to its database. The information said _'Weedle: The Hairy Bug Pokémon. Types: Bug and Poison. Size: 1 Foot or 0.3 Meters. Weight: 7.1 Pounds or 3.2 Kilograms. Often found in forests and grasslands. It has a sharp, toxic barb of around two inches on top of its head which it uses to defend itself against predators.'_ Then the Pokédex stopped beeping and turned itself off. Joe closed the lid and slid it back into his bag. "I didn't know that the Dex writes the information itself." He thought aloud.

"Yeah, it's part of the programing." Winter explained. "Once a pokémon is caught the Pokédex takes a note of which and writes a description and information based of what is seen during the battles or experiences with one of those pokémon. Here." She reached into her own bag and pulled out another pokédex. It looked, in many respects, exactly the same as Joe's Dex. The only difference was the name typed into it. The trainer name read 'Winter Kitoshi'. Joe's pokédex trainer name read 'Joseph Glende'. He had to admit it was a surprise to find that Winter's surname was Kitoshi. He'd expected her surname to be something more like Snow or Waterstone or even Smith would have been more expected. Not a Japanese surname that was hardly even Japanese. She switched the device on and sent it to a specific data page. This page read _'Staryu: The Starshape Pokémon. Types: Water. Size: 2'07 Feet or 0.8 Meters. Weight: 76.1 Pounds or 34.5 Kilograms. An enigmatic ocean found pokémon that can effortlessly regenerate any appendage it loses. At night they swarm onto beaches and their central cores flash with red light.'_ "This is all information I picked up when I caught Staryu. I actually saw both things happening with my own eyes. A swarm of glowing stars at the seas edge is an amazing spectacle."

"I imagine it is." Joe nodded, pretending to follow and actually care.

"So are you going to keep it?" She asked him. He turned.

"I'm sorry?" He asked.

"I mean the weedle." Winter added. Joe relaxed again.

"Oh." Then he looked confused. "I didn't know that I could get rid of it."

"You can place the pokeball it was caught in into the PC at the next pokémon centre if you don't want it on your team." She explained.

"That sounds kind of cruel." Joe told her. "You can just leave any pokémon there to waste away? I don't want to do that to them." He lifted the pokeball up to eye level and looked at it. "No, I think I'll keep it. For now at least. We'll see how everything goes."

"Well in that case are you going to nickname your new pokémon?" Winter asked. Joe looked at her again. "I thought that because Ralph's got a nickname you might want to give one to Weedle as well." She continued.

Joe thought for a second. "I guess I could." He told her. "But what name could I give it?" he thought for a couple of seconds. Then a name popped into his head. It was simple, short and easy to say. "What about Sting?" Winter thought about it too.

"Sting?" She questioned. She didn't sound sure about it.

"Yeah." Joe told her. "It's simple, cool and it matches the pokémon's biology. He has stingers. Sting. Stingers." Ralph looked like he like the sound of it and Winter wasn't complaining. Joe smiled at them "That's settled then." He declared. "Weedle's nickname shall be Sting" The pokeball seemed to nod very slightly at this. Joe beamed. He placed the new pokeball onto his belt, adding Sting the weedle onto his team. Then looked around, suddenly realising something. "Now where's the pathway gone?" He asked. They all looked around. In their haste they had run of deep into the woods, far from the path they had been following. The trees loomed over them like watching giants.

"We can't have gone too far." Winter rationalised. "We should go back the way we came and see if we can get back on it."

They turned back around and walked the way they had come, hoping to find a way back. They kept going on and on but the path seemed to get further and further away from them with every step they took. It was like walking in a dream. No matter how quickly they walked or how far the destination somehow always got further away. Eventually they stopped in a small clearing to rest. Joe began pulling at his hair. They must have been walking for an hour and still they hadn't found any sign of the path they had entered on.

"This is no good." He exclaimed. "We must be miles away from the path now. How did we even manage that?" Winter shrugged, leaning forwards on her knees and panting with exhaustion.

"We can't be far." She gasped. "We just can't. These woods are hardly a few acers long. How haven't we seen it?" Even Ralph was looking tired. Flying in between trees and dodging branches was enough to make any winged mammalian creature tired. He stopped by a tree, flipped upside down, grabbed a branch with his feet and hung there for a while as he regained his strength and energy. Occasionally the branch creaked. Joe leaned against the nearest tree to rest.

We must have taken a wrong turn somewhere." He decided. "Let's face it. We're lost." Something fell out of the tree above him. It whizzed past his face in a red and white blur and thudded to the ground by his feet. Ralph let go of his branch, nearly hitting the floor as his wings unfolded and lifted him back to eye level, the right way up. Joe froze for a second, taken by surprise from the random colourful object passing his face. After getting over the surprise he looked down. At his feet was a simple basic pokeball. He looked confused. A pokeball had just dropped out of the tree and landed at his feet. Where had it even come from? How had it fallen from the sky? "What the…?" he began to ask. He turned to Winter. "Where did that come from?"

"I have no Idea." She said, truthfully. "It kind of just… fell." Joe knelt down to pick it up. Before he could react the pokéball burst open and a beam of light hit the ground in front of him. The light took form, becoming a small, four legged, rabbit like Pokémon. It had large ears and spines down its back. As the light faded it left colour on the form, revealing this new pokémon to be purple skinned, a lighter shade of purple than Ralph's skin, with small dark purple spots on its side. The three of them looked at the tiny horned beast. "That's a nidoran." Winter pointed out. "A male, I think. And a caught one, too." The nidoran male looked up at them. They leaned down towards it. It growled defensively and bared its teeth and they backed up again.

"Ralph…?" Joe turned to his friend, only to see that Ralph was just as surprised and confused as they were. The nidoran began to dig up the grass with its stumpy front foot. It was clearly getting agitated.

"Who do you suppose it's owner is?" Winter asked. Then another pokeball dropped down in front of their faces. This one landed right next to the previous one and open in the same way. A new but very similar looking pokémon appeared out of it, standing next to the previous one. It was the same size, it had the same face and had almost the same body. There were however a couple of major differences. For starters this one was light blue rather than purple, with dark blue spots on its body. It also had shorter spikes on its head and back, smaller ears and whiskers on its face. It was probably a female one. The group looked even more confused. "Ok, revise that last comment. Who do you suppose _their_ owner is?" A voice from behind them answered that for her.

"I would imagine that _their_ owner would be us." The voice was mail, but it sounded more cocky, pompous and forward than friendly or kind. It also sounded like it was loaded to the brim with sarcasm.

"Looks to me like we found us a couple of rookie trainers." A second, female voice added, sounding just as stuck up and just as cruelly sarcastic. The trio turned around. Behind them where two figures standing in the shadows. They weren't visible yet but something suggested that wasn't going to stay that way for long. The two humanoid forms turned to each other, then looked down at something between them.

"All alone in the woods, far from any roads. What's the matter? Get yourselves lost?" Asked a third taunting voice from a figure they couldn't see. It sounded like it was coming from somewhere in-between the visible figures, but there was nothing there.

"Who's there?" Joe demanded, standing tall and defiant. These people were trying to intimidate him and he wasn't going to let them. From the shadows there was a scoffing sound.

"Like you don't know." The third voice said from nowhere in particular. "What say we teach them a thing or two about pokémon battles?" Both visible figures look at each other again.

"What a wonderful Idea" The female voice agreed.

"We'll give them a lecture on it." Said the male voice.

The figures stepped forward from the shadows, finally revealing themselves to the group. They were another couple of trainers that had been traveling through the forest, only these two wore matching red suits and black gloves and boots. The male trainer was pail with chocolate brown eyes and short, spiky green hair while the female trainer was tanned with Turquoise eyes and long curly blue hair. Following them was a small pink Pokémon, or at least what Joe assumed was a Pokémon, that looked like a melting jelly or a lump of moulding plastic. The nidorans that had appeared from the pokéballs circled around Joe and Winter and trotted over to the new trainer's sides. Clearly they were their pokémon, after all.

"Who are you two?" Winter asked, still taking in their clothing style and trying to process it through her brain. The Female trainer laughed.

"Ha. You don't know us?" She seemed amused by this.

"We're only the toughest, coolest, most badest trainers in the region" The male trainer added.

"Tougher then steel!" She added

"Faster than light!" he added

"Cooler then cool!"

"Better than best!"

"Ruby!" The girl said

"And Ross!" The boy said

"And Frank!" the Pink Jelly added. Joe and Winter jumped back in surprise.

"It can talk!" He exclaimed.

"Of course I can talk." It said, very offended. "Did you think I was one of those dumb dittos? And my name's Frank, Not 'It'!"

"We're Team Ace!" Ruby added.

"And we're unbeatable!" Ross finished. There was a prolonged pause. Joe tried to stop himself from laughing.

"Very nice." He managed to say before choking on his own laughter. He turned away so they couldn't see him. "Team Ace? Unbeatable? That's just great!" The two trainers didn't look amused. Winter nudged him to be quiet. It took him a while to calm.

"Well that was quite a show there..." Winter commented "But it doesn't say anything about your ability's as trainers. I imagine you've never even had a battle before, have you." Team Ace looked at her.

"I think she's asking for a fight, Ross." Ruby sneered.

"We should teach her a lesson, Ruby" Ross agreed

"Hey, hold on now!" Joe interrupted, pushing in front and standing in their way. "Don't think that just because you're cool and you're confident and that you have matching outfits, means you can bully around me and my friend with threats of violence. Well guess what. You've angered me to boiling point! You want a fight?" He stated. "You've got one! With me!" The threat didn't have the reaction he expected. This time it was Team Ace who burst out laughing.

"You?" Ruby Laughed

"Fight us?" Ross guffawed.

"You don't stand a chance against our amazing co-ordinated performance!" Frank stated. "Let's show him what we're all about" Franks form suddenly pixelated and changed. It went from being small and liquid to being big and tough in a matter of seconds. When the transformation stopped frank was no longer the small pink jelly he had been but a large rhyhorn. Joe stepped up to fight but Winter held him back.

"Don't rise to them." She hissed. "You've never had a pokémon battle before. You don't know anything about it." Joe looked at her.

"I took out that criminal at the pokémon centre." Joe argued. "I can take these fools out, too."

"That wasn't a pokémon battle." Winter told him. "That was a break out! This is a pokémon battle. They have rules to follow. Do you know those rules?"

"I'll learn on the job." Joe pushed past her and unclipped his new pokeball, holding it in his hand. "Ralph, are you ready?" He asked. Ralph grunted, taking up position beside him. Team Ace laughed again.

"You called that thing Ralph?!" Ross couldn't stop the laughter that escaped his throat. Joe clenched his empty fist. Wordlessly he released the pokeball, sending out his first caught pokémon, Sting, into battle.

"Stop laughing, start fighting!" He exclaimed, looking strong. Ross and Ruby glared back.

"Get 'em boys!" Ross commanded. Frank and the Nidorans charged.

"Ralph… uh…!" Winter coughed behind him.

"Tell him to use wing attack." She whispered. "And tell Sting to use poison sting." Joe nodded back.

"Thanks." He turned to the oncoming battle. "Ralph, use wing attack! Sting, use… poison sting." Ralph and Sting nodded. Then they attacked. Ralph flew forwards, his wings straight and sharp. Frank charged closer and closer, his horn lowered, ready to smash into the two kids. Ralph dived, striking the large rock rhino on the side, and was knocked out of the way by its sheer force. His attack bounced of his shell, doing almost nothing to stop it. Frank laughed as he battered Ralph aside, leaving him spinning in the air behind him, and continued the charge onwards. Only Sting was standing in his way. The small worm jumped into a lunging strike in a futile attempts to stop the huge rampaging rhino. It didn't work. Sting was knocked over and trampled as Frank hardly even flinched. He cackled evilly.

"You call this a fight?!" He sniggered. "I've had tougher times swatting flies. This is easy!" He turned around and prepared to charge again. Sting and Ralph had already managed to get back up and prepare to fight again, though they were both hurting from the attack they had just received. Frank charged at them again, sprinting faster than before, causing the ground to shake.

"Ok, maybe we should change the plan." Joe decided. "Ralph! Sting! Evade its attacks!" Both pokémon prepared to do so. Frank charged in closer. Then Sting took everyone by surprise. A line of silk shot from his mouth, flew out in front of it and wrapped around Franks front legs. He exclaimed in surprise, his legs caught and he buckled forwards, hit the ground and kept going. His yelling rocky hide dug through the ground like a digger and kept on moving. He eventually crashed into a tree and lay, sprawled out on the ground. He groaned and flexed his front legs, trying to get the string off.

Joe was speechless. "Uh… Good work, Sting." He said eventually. Sting looked back at him and smiled. This gave Joe the confidence to try commanding an attack again. "Ralph, uh… use supersonic!" Ralph flew forward towards the nidoran male who was now charging towards the unaware Sting. He flew overhead and let off an ear piercing screech. The nidoran male got the full blast and stumbled around, its head spinning like a merry-go-round. It was so disorientated it ended up stumbling into the path of the nidoran female and they crashed into each other, lying in a dazed rabbit pile. "Good work, now get them with bite!" Joe continued. Ralph swooped down towards the nidorans and grabbed them both by the ears.

Meanwhile Frank was still trying to untie his front legs. He exclaimed. "Damn stuff won't come off!" Eventually he gave up trying to break it, but instead of just giving up the fight he began to change form. This time he became a small fiery horse with a blazing mane and hooves. The string shrugged of his now thin, burning legs and evaporated into dust. "You'll regret stringing me up!" he shouted, angrily and charged at Sting, a trail of fire following behind.

"Look out for the ponyta!" Winter yelled. Sting turned and saw Frank coming back, now as a blazing hell horse. His ponyta form was incredibly fast, faster than his rhyhorn form. His feet turned up the floor, setting fallen leaves on fire as he passed.

"Evade!" Joe called out, realising that he was in trouble. Sting calmly rolled to the side and Frank shot past, out of control and smashed into another tree. He groaned in pain as he slid to the floor.

"I… hate… this… god damn… weedle!"

In the other battle, Ralph had flipped the nidoran female over and she had got lodged on her head horn and back. Her legs flailed in the air as she tried to turn over. Meanwhile Ralph was chasing after the nidoran male, snapping his jaws open and closed closely behind it as it ran away. Ross and Ruby stared in horror at how badly the battle was going for them.

"This… is… Ridiculous" Ross gulped.

"Come on, Frank!" Ruby yelled. "It's only a worm! Take it down already!" Frank opened his eyes and suddenly smiled. His form pixelated again and changed shape. He was no longer a ponyta but now he was a tiny caterpillar sized worm.

"What are you doing?" Ross shouted. "A caterpie! You can't beat them as that!" Frank didn't care. He crawled his way to Sting, head lowered, moving very slowly. Sting saw him coming and turned to fight. Frank continued the crawl right up until he was directly in front of Sting. Then he lunged forwards. He crashed into Sting and sent him flying backwards. He skidded along the ground like a loose tyre. Frank laughed.

"Puny Bug!" He shouted. Sting weakly pushed himself up only to get rammed in the side by Frank again. Joe grabbed his wrists.

"Come on, Sting!" He chanted under his breath. "You can do it!" Sting looked over to him. He saw the concern in Joes face. Even though he had only been caught less than an hour ago, this human already cared that much about him to encourage him to fight. He knew at that point that if his trainer thought he could win, then he could most definitely try. He pushed himself up and turned to face Frank.

"Still not backing down, hey?" Frank mocked. He wriggled his way closer and closer. Sting glared at him. "I'll show you what good that will do!" Frank jumped. Sting stood his ground. The shapeshifting pest flew through the air, getting closer and closer by the second, his head lowered, ready to press Sting into the ground. Still Sting didn't move. Frank was laughing manically now. His head was only meters away. The, taking everyone watching by surprise, Sting reared up, tilting his head till the needle on the top was pointing directly at Frank, and stabbed. There was a 'Smack!' and Frank, who, a couple of seconds ago, had been charging at full speed, was now hanging completely motionless. His eyes had widened dramatically. Sting's needle had hit him straight in the middle of his underbelly. Sting lowered himself back to the floor and let Frank drop. Then took several steps back from him. Franks eyes suddenly drooped. His skin turned pail. He started to tilt and sway. Small purple bubbles began to float out of his mouth.

"I don't feel good" He moaned. He transformed back into his natural jelly form and slid his way back to Ross and Ruby. Ralph had already beaten their nidorans and they were looking totally stunned.

"They… beat us!" Ross gasped.

"I can't believe it!" Ruby added, completely speechless. "That's impossible. We've never been beaten!" Joe and Ralph were whooping with delight. That was their first proper battle and they had won. It had seemed like it would be a challenge but, thankfully, Joe's team already knew a little about battling. Sting had managed to take out Frank on his own. That was a surprise in itself. As for Ralph Joe had hardly seen what he did to the nidorans. Last time he looked they were both hanging from his teeth by their ears. Frank had reached Ross and Ruby. He was still moaning. The little purple bubbles on his mouth were growing bigger and his entire left side jaw was swollen.

"That litthle Tthwerp!" he lisped. "Their weedle poithoned me!" Ruby bent down and picked the sludgey ditto up in both hands.

"This isn't the last time you'll see us." She told them

"Team Ace never forget a face." Ross added. Joe laughed.

"Hey, that rhymed! Guess you really so have a co-ordinated performance." They glared at him. And with that one final stare they ran away back through the forest.

"Well they were an odd bunch." Winter said. "And they were certainly show offs. What did they have against us to make them want to 'teach us a lesson'?"

"I don't know." Joe replied "Maybe they just dislike new trainers." He turned to ralph who was beaming. "But what I do know is we beat them." He smiled back. "We beat them good." He patter Ralph on the shoulder, proudly. Then he realised something. "Where's sting?" He asked. Something flashed in front of them. They looked. Sting was still standing where he had been during the battle. But something wasn't right. The air around him appeared to be glowing. He reared up onto his back tail. Then his skin went tough and starter turning a strange dark shade of yellow. Starting from the back his tail began to form a shell, causing the spike on the end to fall off. The shell slowly crawled up his tail and consumed his entire body, reaching his back ball legs and making its way higher up. He didn't looked shocked, nor surprised, nor afraid, nor worried, nor any emotion any of the watchers would have expected him to feel. Instead he felt… happy. He felt confident. He felt himself becoming something new, something more able. He had seen the love and kindness that a trainer, his trainer, could give, and that had made him want to become stronger for him. Joe, Winter and Ralph watched in fascination.

"What's happening to him?" Joe asked. Winter simply smiled.

"He's evolving." She explained.

"Evolving" Joe gasped. Winter nodded.

"Yes. Surprisingly quickly I may add. You only caught him an hour ago." The chrysalis finally reached his bulbous head, covering it in a shell layer of insectoid membrane. The last thing to disappear under it where his eyes. They were finally covered over by a layer of open shell, leaving an area of black eye socket in the cocoons skull. And then the process was complete. The glowing had stopped and the cocoon had been finished. Sting was no longer the small little weedle that he had been just a few seconds earlier. He was now twice his original size with no longer a long body with stingers but a tall, pointed body which he balanced on easily. His head had become a semi-circular bulb with two large black triangle eyes at the centre with a small white dot retina in each. There was nothing cute or cuddly or hairy about this worm anymore. Now he was a full-fledged chrysalis. Sting had metamorphosed into a kakuna.

"Yes!" Joe exclaimed and chanted in delight. "My pokémon just evolved!" He ran over and picked up Sting, hugged him tightly and threw him lightly into the air, caught him, then threw him back up. Stings eyes were huge and terrified. He clearly wasn't enjoying this form of celebration. Then Joe stopped after catching him a third time.

"Oh. Sorry. I didn't know that bugs don't like being thrown about." He apologised and put him back on the ground. Sting nodded at him, glad to be back on stable floor again. Heights weren't his thing. Birds lived high up. He didn't like birds much. Joe unclipped his pokéball and called Sting back in. The new kakuna disappeared in a flash or red and white. "That was surprisingly easy." He thought proudly to himself. "At this rate I'll probably get the Pokédex finished in no time."

"Oh give over." Winter replied. "There's over one-hundred and fifty Pokémon in this region alone. You own have two Pokémon and only one has evolved." She held up her hand and pointed three fingers to the air. "That's only three you've registered in the pokédex. Don't get me wrong, I respect that you actually give a damn about filling that thing, but I say just give up on it. Don't even bother trying to catch and own every single pokémon. I've been a trainer for a while know and I hardly have more than a few pages full myself. You're not likely to be moving much further than the number three for a while." There was a rustling in the bushes behind them. They turned around. A yellow and brown bolt tail appeared out of the grass. Then an apple rolled out from a bush, with a bite mark in it. The little pikachu from earlier came waddling after it, rolling the apple along and into the clearing. It sat down on the edge of the clearing, picked up the apple and took a large bite out of it. It then gulped it down and stuck its tiny yellow paw inside and began pulling out the pips. It was so busy doing this that it didn't notice the two trainers and large purple bat on the other side of the clearing watching it. Joe smiled to Winter.

"Make that four." He told her.

"What are you going…?" She tried to ask but Joe was already gone. He walked forward slowly, Ralph following further behind. It looked like he was trying to sneak up on the thing. The pikachu's ears twitched and it paused in motion. Joe stepped slowly closer. The pikachu turned to face him, its little ears twitching. It looked straight at him with its small round beady innocent eyes.

"And now it's seen you." Winter muttered. "Good job sneaking up on it." Joe ignored her and continued to walk towards the small furry mouse, still slowly moving so as not to scare it away. The pikachu stayed standing where it was. It took another pip out of the apple and munched slowly on it, never taking its eyes of the approaching trainer. Last time it had run away when Joe was this close, but this time it hadn't done so. Maybe it was because it had seen him before, or maybe it was because he wasn't rushing at it this time. Joe was only a few feet away from it now.

"Hey there little fella" Joe said comfortingly to the tiny yellow electric mouse. He knelt down to a closer level so that it didn't feel intimidated by his size. He reached out a hand. The pikachu backed away a little. He withdrew his hand again. "It's ok. I won't hurt you." He told it, kindly. The pikachu still looked a little unsure. Sparks were beginning to grow in its cheeks. Joe crawled a step back to give it more space. The sparks died down again. The pikachu seemed to relax a little yet it did not take its eyes of him. It looked back at its apple and then looked disappointed. The apple was already hollow of pips. It looked deflated. Casually it tossed the apple shell aside and sat, feeling hungry. "You want something to eat." Joe suddenly thought of a way to make it interested in being caught. He slid off his bag and unzipped it. He reached inside and pulled out a shiny, brand new, uneaten apple. "Do you want this?" He asked, reached out his hand. The pikachu turned around and jumped in surprise. In front of it was a brand new apple, looking even more large and juicy then the previous one. Its eyes glistened as it looked at the fruit in Joes hand and it licked its lips hungrily.

"You like apples, don't you?" He smiled. He placed the apple on the grass in front of the pikachu. "Here you go." The pikachu crawled forwards slowly and cautiously. It held out its small pawed hands and grabbed the apple. It swiped it away in a flash and took a large chunk of apple off in one bite of its small fuzzy mouth. It swallowed the fruity flesh and reached inside the apple, digging out five small pips. It shoved them one by one into its mouth till they were almost all gone. Joe smiled at it. It was adorable watching it famish itself the way it did. He had never seen something so keen on eating apple pips like this pokémon. "That should make you feel less hungry I imagine." He told it. It was about to pop the last pip into its mouth when it stopped. It looked back at the trainer who had given it the apple and saw him smile. It they waddled back over to him, leaving the apple behind and held out its tiny paw with the pip in its palm. Joe laughed at the politeness of the creature.

"No I couldn't possibly eat that." He told it, politely. I gave it to you. It's yours now. The pikachu shook its head and held out its hand again, insisting that he take it. Joe shook his head. "No. Go on. You have it." The pikachu poked him with a finger. Joe suddenly flinched as several volts of electricity passed through his body in a second. His muscles seized up, leaving him paralysed for a small amount of time. The pikachu pulled its hand away again and dropped the pip into Joe's frozen hand. He groaned in pain and tried to smile. "Why, thank you." He told it through stuck teeth. When he regained feeling in his hand he clamped two fingers around the pip and plopped t into his mouth. The pikachu smiled at him, proudly. "It's… good." Joe said as he chewed on the small seed. The pikachu looked happy now. Then it caught eye of something on Joe's clothing. He followed its gaze. It was looking at Sting's pokeball with a sudden longing gaze. Joe seemed to understand what it was thinking. "You want to come with me, don't you?" He asked it. The pikachu looked back up at him and nodded vigorously. It gave him a cheeky smile. It's body began to spark with static electricity and it began to limber itself up. Joe laughed. Joe could read what it was thinking. It wanted to fight him for a place on his team. "Okay then." He stood up and took a couple of steps back. The pikachu readied itself.

"What are you doing?" Winter asked. Joe smiled at her as he reached her and Ralph.

"I'm going to catch me a pikachu." He said simply. Then he turned to Ralph. "You ready to help me?" He asked him. Ralph nodded immediately. So far this whole trainer and pokémon thing was working out for them both quite well. The more time they spent together, the more fun it all seemed to get. They smiled and took up fighting positions. The pikachu grinned and watched the two of them, rolling sparks running up and down its bristling fur.

Then the catching began. "Ralph." Joe commanded. "Use Supersonic!" Ralph took in a deep breath and emitted an odd, high pitched spring of noise that shot towards the pikachu like a speeding bullet. The pikachu covered its ears and shot aside of it. When it recovered it loosened its electricity and fired a small bolt at Ralph. He dodged it just in time and swooped towards it, wings outstretched. A wing hit the pikachu in the stomach and it flew backwards, spinning through the air like a rotor top. It landed easily on its feet and began planning its next attack. Ralph came around for another strike. As Ralph flew past the pikachu lashed out with its tail and wiped Ralph on the wing. He dodged out of the way but at the same time took his eyes of the flight path. He nearly crashed into a tree as he took a hard right out of the way, dodging and diving past the tree branches as he tried to get back on course. Finally he swooped down and smacked into the pikachu again, this time nocking it flat on its back. Joe took advantage of this opportunity. "Now it should be good for a pokeball." He pulled out a pokeball and flung it at the scrabbling pikachu. Before it could fight back or escape the ball opened and the pikachu was sucked inside. The ball shut and dropped to the floor like it had done when Sting was caught. It rocked about for a while as it struggled to keep the pokémon contained. Joe and Ralph stood and floated it tense anticipation. Winter watched on in interest. The ball continued to rock from side to side like a tug boat on a stormy sea. And then 'Click!' The pokeball locked shut and Joe relaxed. Yet again he had managed to capture another Pokémon. He turned to face Ralph who was smiling proudly. They met their hands in a high five again and then they both ran forwards and picked up the pokéball that now carried the newly caught pikachu. "And that is number three!" He laughed. The Pokédex beeped again and Joe pulled it out of his bag. It was adding more data to the memory base, except this time it was on the pikachu he had just caught. The information that was now appearing on the screen said _'Pikachu: The mouse Pokémon. Type: Electric. Size: 1'04 Foot or 0.4 Meters. Weight: 13.2 Pounds or 6.0 Kilograms. It has small electric sacs on both its cheeks which it uses to defend itself. When several of these Pokémon gather, their electricity can build and cause lightning storms.'_ Joe closed the machine.

"Are you going to nickname this one too?" Winter asked. Joe thought for a second.

"Yeah." Joe answered eventually. He had one nickname floating around in his head for a while now, ever since he had seen it eating the apple seeds. It was a simple name that described the personality of this Pokémon entirely.

"What about Pippy." He decided finally.

"Pippy?" She repeated, trying to see the value of the name. "Because he likes apple pips?" She asked.

"Of course." Joe confirmed. "Suits it, don't you think?"

"I guess." She agreed "Buts it's a bit odd." She then seemed to jump up and down without actually leaving the floor. "It also works with his Pokémon name." She added. Joe looked at her confused. "Well, he's a pikachu, you see. And Pippy sound like 'pi pi', which pikachu's say, so…" She saw that Joe was utterly lost on this one. He had no idea what she was on about. "Never mind" she said finally. Joe instantly forgot what she had said. He looked at the trees above him and found himself enchanted by all of it, by everything he had experienced on his journey so far.

"I'm really doing this." He told himself. "I am a pokémon trainer. I never thought I would ever become one, but it's really coming true. I still can't believe it. That's three Pokémon on my team already and four pages in the pokédex complete."

"You've still got one-hundred and forty seven more to register." Winter reminded him. "And five of those are legendries" Joe turned back to face her. He smiled a cheeky, confident smile.

"Then this should be an interesting adventure, shouldn't it."


	4. Chapter 4: Old Rivals

After another hour of walking, Joe, Winter and Ralph had finally found the path again and were walking back through the woods, towards the next town. Joe was still feeling quite proud of his recent accomplishments, catching two different pokémon and having one of them evolve on the same day. On his belt he had two new basic pokéballs with a pokémon in each, Pippy the pikachu and Sting the Kakuna. Winter wasn't as happy or excited as he was but she was at least upbeat, and she'd decided to let him have his moment. Even though she had been a trainer for a while now and had been through the excitement at the beginning of it, she didn't want to ruin it all for Joe. Once this moment was over it would all get a lot tougher. He turned to see him still smiling, spinning a small stick between his fingers. Ralph was flying above them, looking out ahead. She rolled her eyes. She had to admit that it was getting a little degrading now. He was too happy. He was too cocky.

They continued to stroll along at a casual speed. Leaves floated down all around them, fluttering like flat solidified rain pools down from the green roof of the forest. Calls from wild Pokémon rang out around them. The woods where alive with the sound of chatter. Joe sighed, inhaling a lungful of warm forest air. He seemed to want to say something, but even he probably didn't know what. Winter rolled her eyes. It was her who was going to have to speak, wasn't it? Just to break the shrouding ice around them.

"You did a pretty good job back there, fight those Ace guys." She told him. Joe smiled to her.

"Thanks." He said. "I have to admit I'm surprised I beat them. I'm sure you would have beaten them just as quickly if you had been battling them instead." He tried to complement her but he didn't really manage to. It sounded more like a mockery.

_"Is that really what he thinks of me as a trainer?" _She thought in her head._ "Is that how he perceives my skills? He hardly has an idea. He's new to this world. He's a new trainer. What does he know about me? Nothing. I could probably take him out in battle without trying."_ She looked at him again. That smile. It was too innocent for her. He was still new to this. It wouldn't be kind of her to destroy that. Besides, Joe was nice enough. He had helped her get away from the crooks at the pokémon centre. That was enough of a reason to consider him ok. There was something else about him, also. She couldn't pinpoint it. Something about his hair. Or maybe it was his eyes. Those big blue eyes of his.

"Yes." She agreed. "I dare say I would. In fact I might even have done better." Joe gave her a snooty expression.

"Oh would you now?" He smirked, nudging her with his shoulder. He regretted this a second later after his shoulder began to sting again. The wound had almost healed but it still stung when touched or prodded. The bandage was coming off. He shook the pain off and continued to smile. She tried not to but did find herself smiling back.

"Yes, I could!" She told him. This seemed to only make his smile grow wider.

"Really? Have you ever battle before?" He asked.

_"He is taking the mick, right?"_ She thought. _"He thinks I don't know how to battle? Who was it who helped him make commands earlier when he was in trouble? Christ! I should teach him a lesson. Just one session in battle with me and he'll see! He'll get the idea!"_

"Yes, I have." She answered, her smile fading a little.

"Interesting, because I've never seen you battle before." Joe continued.

_"You are treading on thin ice, buddy!"_

"I don't usually choose to battle unless provoked." She explained. "I just prefer it that way. It's just the way I learned to become a trainer." Joe seemed to believe her, but it didn't stop him being a cocky nut-head.

"Great excuse. Sounds like you've practiced that one."

_"It's creaking!"_

"You want to battle me?" She snapped finally, no longer smiling or laughing but looking deadly serious. "Ok then. I'll battle you." Joe looked a little surprised by her outburst.

"Ok, if that's what you want." He agreed. "But be prepared to be beaten badly."

_"In your dreams, kid!"_

"Maybe you should prepare for the same." She told him. He smiled.

"Alright, lets battle." Joe cheered.

"Ok. A few conditions, before we start." Winter added before they could start. Joe shrugged.

"Ok." Winter began to list the rules.

"One: We only use one pokémon each, no more than that. Two: No items. Three: No status inducing moves, they just make the battles last too long. Four: First to hit the floor loses. Do you agree to these rules?" Joe nodded following.

"Alright. I agree." She smiled back.

"Good. Also, you can't use Ralph. You have to use one of your newly caught pokémon. Understand?" Joe nodded.

"Ok. I can do that."

"Alright. Don't think for a second I'm going easy on you. And don't say you weren't warned." She stopped him on the path and kept on walking further up the road, leaving him behind. At this point she decided to show off a little herself. She walked heal over heal, letting her hair whip about in the air behind her. It was probably the sassiest walk she had ever given at any point in her life or ever would. It actually didn't suit her. Joe rolled his eyes, which was ironic considering they were both just showing off to the other now. About a metre away she stopped and turned to face him again. She stood legs apart and arms behind her back, looking like she was in some kind of army patrol. She was ready to fight. "Let's battle!" She announced. Joe smiled and reached for a pokeball.

"You're on!" He called back. They both grabbed a pokeball in their right hand and tensed, preparing for the battle to start. Joe was the first to release a pokémon. "Go Pippy." He cried. The pokeball opened and the small yellow pikachu appeared onto the road. Pippy rubbed his ears with his paws and caused small static sparks to fly out of his fur. Now it was Winter's turn to send out her pokémon.

"Go Staryu." She cried as her pokeball was released and out jumped the five pointed sea star creature with a red opal jewel in its chest. Pippy glared at the new enemy. Staryu didn't have any facial expressions, but it was probably glaring at him too. Winter smiled at Joe, but not a kind smile. It was more cunning and malicious. "I'll let you go first, newbie." She called. Joe nodded. It seemed to him like he was giving her an advantage.

"Pippy, use thundershock!" Joe called. Pippy charged electricity and fired it in a small jagged line at Staryu.

"Evade!" Winter called. Staryu began to rotate like a blade and jumped up into the air, flying straight over the electricity bolt. Pippy looked stunned by its quick reactions. So did Joe. Staryu landed again on two legs and readied to attack back. "Now, use hydro pump!" Staryu fired a huge cannon of water directly at Pippy. There was nothing he could do to avoid the attack. The cannon hit him straight in the face and bowled him over. He did not get back up. Joe was speechless. Winter just smiled as she withdrew Staryu from the battlefield and walked back towards Joe. "Guess that means I win." See told him. Joe was completely dumbfounded. He looked like someone had just told him that the meaning of life, the universe and everything was a warm bath, blue cheese and a vintage set of European sunglasses. To describe it in a simpler term, He was stunned. He stayed that that way right up until Winter finally reached him again, still smiling like she'd just outwitted a fox, walked past him and slapped him hard on his healthy shoulder. At that point he was shaken from his daze.

"Wha…?" He barely managed to gasp through an open jaw. He turned. Winter was still smiling. Clearly he was now the one who was acting cocky. "How…?"

"I did warn you." She told him, casually, suddenly acting like it was all nothing to her. "You can't complain. I did just kick your ass all the way back to primary school." He gaped at her.

"…I had no idea…" He managed. Long sentences where still proving to be a struggle for him right now. Most of his brain had evaporated along with Pippy's health bar. "That you were… that… strong!" She laughed.

"What? You thought that I'd be easy to beat, just because you've never seen me battle? Or because I'm a girl? I guess this is a good example of 'Not everything is as it seems'!" Joe finally managed to grow the part of his brain that controls intelligible speech back and smiled, ashamed but congratulatory bowing his head.

"Ok, I admit, you surprised me with that one." He admitted. She smiled, gratefully. "But did you have to be so cruel with your attack. I mean poor Pippy didn't stand a chance."

"Oh, yeah, I actually forgot about that." They both turned to the defeated Pikachu still lying in pain on the road. Joe quickly jogged over and picked him up, carrying him back in both arms.

"I don't think I have anything to heel him up, and we're still a while away from the next town…" He told her.

"I think I might have something." Winter interrupted, reaching into her back and pulling out a small yellow medicinal diamond shaped packet. It looked like some kind of powder filled tablet, maybe used for giving energy back to tired pokémon, and it was about half the size of Winter's palm. She took it and handed it to the battered and wet furred pikachu in Joe's arms. "This should help him." She told him, as Pippy took the powder tablet. It was almost the same size as his mouth. He looked at it for a second, assumingly making sure it was okay for him to eat, and then he put it into his mouth and crunched down before swallowing. A few seconds later his eyes began to widen again from tired hangovers covering most of his eyeball to open lidless bug expression. He pushed himself out of Joe's arms and crawled up his side, perching lightly on his bandaged shoulder. Winter chuckled. "Yep, that seems to have done it."

Joe looked at her. "What did you give him?"

"A revive." She explained. "They're kind of like energy medicine for pokémon. Give it to a tired or fainter team member and it will give them enough energy to get back into the fight. You can buy them at pokémarts. They're a bit costly, though. That was the last one I had left." Pippy seemed a lot happier and full of life now. In fact he was so awake and energetic that he cuddled up next to Joe's neck and fell asleep on his shoulder. Joe smiled at his new friend.

"Maybe it's time to call him back in, don't you think." He took Pippy's pokeball and called him back in. "It's time to come back." He said as the sleeping pikachu disappeared in a flash of red and white. When it was finished he clipped the ball back onto his belt and rubbed his shoulder. "Well, this has certainly been a most interesting day, hasn't it?" He chuckled. Winter chuckled also. Ralph floated down to eye level again, making them both jump a little. When the tension dropped again they continued on, Winter beginning to explain to Joe why he'd lost to her and how she had won so quickly. Apparently it was a smart idea to watch your opponent's moves rather than just charge in with your own. That way you could pick out the right time to make a powerful attack and how to defeat their pokémon with minimal energy and effort used. It was a tactic that most successful pokémon trainers used. She also explained that some pokémon are better with some tactics than with others. "For example, Ralph is fast and has a strong attack, but because of that he's not likely to have any strong defences. His best tactic would be to land a quick and powerful attack before the opponent can and take them out with one move, that way he'll last longer in battle."

"That's quite smart thinking. How did you come to know that kind of information?"

"Practice. Lots of practice. That and taking lessons with a gym… I mean watching other people battling." Joe looked her. She had been going to say something else, but stopped mid-sentence. This made him curious. What was it she had been going to say, and why had she decided not to say it? This thought quickly disappeared from his mind as his attention returned to the woods.

A little while on they came across a small sign post sticking out of the ground at the edge of the road. On it read 'Pewter City: ½ a mile away. Northwards'

"Not too far away now." Joe sighed. He was exhausted from all the walking he had done that day and from all the battling. He took a quick look at his silver Pokétch. The time had just gone 2:11. Shadows were starting to reform under the trees now. "We should make it before 3."

"That'll be good timing considering how far we've walked." Winter agreed. They continued to walk on, now at a quicker pace, feeling a lot more upbeat and happier now. While Viridian woods had been a fun journey it had also been a long and tiring one. Still, they did their bests to keep in good spirit. Ralph was making the quickest pace and he didn't have the nuisance of pushing himself forward. There was little wind at this point so he could just glide forwards above them, taking a scouting post ahead. A little while later they came across a crossroad with a small, off-road stone and mud path leading into another area of woods, maybe a campsite. However there was something going in on the proper, currently followed road that caused both trainers and their Crobat to stop and stare in confusion.

"Ok, Winter. You're the more experienced trainer. Can you tell me what that is?" Joe asked.

"I have no idea." Winter said in response. "I have never seen anything like that before." They were currently staring at a small orb of purple and blue light which was collapsing in on itself like a black hole. It floated a few feet above the ground and hovered motionless, pulsating randomly. And then, to make it even more confusing, the ball suddenly disappeared, to be replaced by an area of wobbling transparent matter that rippled like waves. Finally that was replaced by a sudden flash of yellow and pink and then all the random nonsense was gone, leaving a small, two armed, two legged, long tailed, closed eyes, levitating yellow creature in the middle of the road. It floated in mid-air unmoving, its arms and legs crossed and sitting in some kind of meditational position. The two trainers looked at each other, then back at the creature. It hadn't noticed them yet.

"What Pokémon is that?" Joe asked finally, not taking his eyes of it.

"I think it's an abra." Winter informed him. "They're very rare to find. I've never actually seen one before."

"Is it wild?" Joe asked. Winter shook her head.

"Not likely" She explained. Abra are pretty rare. They can only be found in certain locations. The closest one I know of is route 25 up north of cerulean city. They don't live in forest areas, especially here."

"Must be a trainer pokémon then." Joe figured. Seconds after he said it a trainer, about the same age as Joe and Winter, came bursting through the undergrowth and running towards the abra, an open pokeball in his hand and his bag hanging from the other.

"There you are, Abra." He said, panting as he reached the pokémon. Abra looked at him and giggled childishly. He held out the pokeball. "Enough teleporting about. In you go!" The abra moaned and returned to its pokeball without a second word. The trainer slid the ball back onto his belt and turned to head back down the road. Then he noticed the trainers watching him. Suddenly, instead of looking disappointed and annoyed, he looked surprised and incredibly happy.

"Joe?" he asked. Joe stared back in amazement.

"Tom?" he replied, looking just as happy yet surprised. The trainer came running towards them.

"Joe!" He exclaimed. "It really is you."

"Who is that?" Winter asked. Joe hardly even heard her.

"An old friend." He explained and ran up to greet him. They stopped in front of each other and gave a brief, friendly hug, ending with a pat on the back.

"It's been such a long time." The trainer said.

"I know." Joe said. "I haven't seen you in weeks. Not since you left with your Pokémon." Joe took a step back. "Talking of that, how has the whole training thing been going for you?"

"It's been going well." The trainer replied. "Since I left I've managed to add fifteen different Pokémon to my Pokédex."

"Really?" Joe asked, astonished.

"True story." The Trainer confirmed. "I was heading back to Pallet town to deliver a message to your uncle as a matter of fact. Someone gave me a parcel to hand over to him back in Pewter City." He drew a small paper envelope out of his bag. "I was going to hand it to you but since you're here I may as well take it myself."

"What is it?"

"They didn't tell me. One of the scientists at the museum passed it to me. He said it was something that the professor had asked for from them."

"Right. It's still good to see you though, mate." Joe told him. He looked back and saw Winter and Ralph waiting behind them patiently. "Oh god, where are my manners?" Joe walked his old friend back over to his two new friends and introduced them to him. "Winter, this is a good friend and childhood rival of mine, Thomas Icarus. Tom, this is Winter Kitoshi."

"Nice to meet you." Tom told her and they shook hands too. "Are you a trainer as well?" He asked her.

"Sort of." She confirmed. "I train with water types." Tom smiled.

"Good for you. My starter pokémon's a water type too. They're great with defence and special attack. Never have I had something more useful for solving problems." His attention turned to the Crobat that had come with them and was flying at eyelevel, staring at him. "And what kind of Pokémon is this?" Tom asked. Ralph raised an eyebrow at him. He seemed quite confident. Maybe a little too confident.

"That's Ralph." Joe informed him. "He's a Crobat. One of those very rare Pokémon that you can't find in the wild."

"Then how did you come across it?" Tom asked

"He's my starter Pokémon" Joe confirmed.

Tom walked up to Ralph. "I don't think I've ever seen this kind of Pokémon before." He said. "Looks like a later evolution of Zubat" Ralph looked him in the eyes. He wasn't sure whether to trust this new trainer. Tom turned back to Joe. "So you've been doing well four yourself so far, as well?" He asked.

"Yeah, it's been going quite well. I haven't really caught as many pokémon as you have yet, but… well, there's no point comparing the two of us, is there?" Tom gave him a disarming smile.

"How many pages have you filled in the Dex so far?" He asked. (Dex is an abbreviation for pokédex, if you haven't already realised that.) Joe gulped.

"Uh… four… but one of them was an evolution, so that must count as extra points or something." He told him. Meanwhile winter and Ralph waited patiently for the two of them to stop nattering. It didn't look like it would end any time soon. Tom looked a little surprised.

"Only four?" Tom wasn't laughing externally but it was a little obvious he was at least chuckling on the inside. Yet he still respected his old friend. "It's not actually that bad. At least you're trying and you're razing your pokémon. What other pokémon do you have, actually?" Joe looked at his three pokéballs.

"Apart from Ralph, I have a Kakuna and a Pikachu, but that's it right now." Tom's eyes seemed to light up for a second.

"A pikachu?" He asked. "How did you catch one of them? I searched for a whole day when I was here but couldn't find any. How did you catch it?" Joe shrugged.

"Uh… really, it was just luck. He liked apples, and I happened to have apples with me." Tom nodded.

"Apples, huh. I'll have to remember to grab some of them on my way back and do another search." Then he clicked his finger suddenly. "I've just thought." He said. "You've just started off as a trainer, haven't you?"

"Yeah." Joe replied, not sure what he was getting at.

"So this is the perfect time not only to compare Pokémon but to also build or experience." Tom declared. He readied himself in a fighting stance. "So then… Joseph Glende, I challenge you to a Pokémon battle, right here, right now! 2 vs 2! Me vs You! What say you?" Joe smiled back at him as Winter and Ralph shrugged from the side.

"You have yourself an opponent, Mr. Icarus."

…

Only half a kilometre away Team Ace were moping about their loss to Ralph and Sting earlier in the day. They hadn't yet even tried to consider yet why they had lost and instead where focusing on blaming something for their loss, except for themselves.

"I can't believe such a young trainer beat us so easily." Ross complained as he smashed his hand against a nearby tree. He then winced and recoiled his hand as he realised how much of a stupid move that was and kicked at the ground in frustration. To be honest it was a silly think to do. "It's just not possible! We're Team Ace! We're like, the best!"

"Not to mention they poisoned Frank" Ruby added. "We had to use one of our Full Heals that we bought in Celadon to fix him. What a waste of 2,500 pokedollars."

"That pestering weedle was overpower. He must be using enhancers of some kind to make his pokémon stronger!" A third voice said. A third person was with them. He was the same age as them but his hair was dark red with a long point at the right side and his skin was slightly darker than theirs. He also had yellow eyes that glowed like light bulbs and perfect white teeth. His voice was exactly the same as the Ditto that was a member of their team. "Maybe he's using a gameshark code?"

"Oh stop complaining, Frank!" Ruby yelled demandingly at the third person. "It was your fault we lost to such a small Pokémon and such an undeveloped trainer so stop blaming it on others!" The third person suddenly pixelated and shifted into a man sized, for armed fighting machamp. They then proceeded to punch the closest tree in anger. It tipped, cracked and crashed into the undergrowth. Several pidgey's flew away in startled surprise.

"I should be tougher than this! I am Frank!" he shouted at the top of his voice. Several bird pokémon flew out of the tree tops above, squawking in surprise. He then walked off to the corner to sulk. The other two decided to ignore him. Frank did this a lot of the time. It was his way of making a scene so that people would pay more attention to him.

"That purple flying Pokémon was something else, as well." Ross continued. "I don't know what it was but it was powerful, like nothing I've ever seen before." He turned to Ruby. "You don't think it was some kind of legendary, do you." She looked at him like he was an idiot.

"No, don't be so stupid." She snapped. "It looked more like a later evolution of the Zubat family to me. I think there's a third evolution in the family that can be found in Johto sometimes." Ruby smiled evilly. "A Pokémon that rare and unusual must be worth thousands, maybe even millions, to collectors and traders around the world." She turned to Ross, still grinning, a malicious idea in her head. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" She asked.

"Yeah." Ross replied, recognising that expression. This was the face Ruby gave when she had an idea. He shuddered. Her ideas usually involved him and Frank doing a lot of work with almost no reward or end result. He hated her plans. "I think we should go and grab an ice-cream in the next town." Ruby slapped him across the face.

"No!" She snapped. "We steal that Pokémon!" Ross recovered from his blow to the head and gave an unhappy expression.

"I don't like that idea. Stealing. That would make us criminals. I'm not so sure that this is a good idea." Ruby sighed. Why did she have to be the smart, scheming one of the three. Why did she have to always order them about? If she hadn't been around to take care of them then Ross and Frank probably would be at the bottom of a pit by now.

"What's more important to you? Money or the law?" Ross thought for a couple of seconds. The choice seemed obvious to him, but it didn't mean he had to like it.

"Fine." He decided.

"Perfect!" Ruby exclaimed. Let's go get us a rare Pokémon!"

"You know, you two seem to care more about other people's Pokémon then you do your own best friend." Frank pointed out.

"Oh stop moaning already." Ruby commanded "It was only a weedle" Frank uprooted another tree.

"It was a weedle that beat me!" He shouted and hurled the tree forwards. It crashed into another tree and that one snapped and fell into another, and another, and another. Soon trees were falling over in domino lines. In several of the trees local spearow were nesting high up in the branches. As they fell several spearow clung to the twigs and branches, desperate to keep their nests protected. Several more flew away in fear. After several seconds the crashing stopped and the dust settled. Over 20 trees lay smashed and cracked on the ground, leaving a larger clearing that they were standing in. Ross and Ruby turned to the relatively surprised Frank.

"Well done, you great mutated four armed freak." Ruby said sarcastically. "You've just aided deforestation." There was a quiet, rustling wind like sound rising up from the fallen trees. It was small and slow to begin with but quickly it got louder and louder and louder and louder until it deafened the entire forest.

"What the hell is that sound?" Ross cried over the din.

"I have no idea!" Was Ruby's response. Suddenly, to everyone's surprise, an entire flock of spearow burst out of the dead trees and flocked in the air above them. Team Ace looked on in utter amazement, fear and a mild amount of respect.

"Oh no!" Frank exclaimed.

"That's not good!" Ross added. The spearow looked on towards them, forming a huge brown bird body above them. And then they dived, beaks pointed at the trio.

Ruby gulped "Okay, time to go!" They turned and ran. The spearow flew after them. They swarmed the trio, pecking their backs, grabbing their hair and tearing at their shoulders as they ran on, trying to escape the attacking birds. Frank tried to swat them away but several spearow dived into his chest and he collapses, turning back into his small ditto form from the pressure that was put on him. As he lay still a spearow swooped down, grabbed him and flew off with him hanging from its claw.

"Put me down!" He yelled at it but it would not let go. Ross and Ruby tripped over a fallen log and fell flat on the ground. The spearow just passed strait over them, completely ignoring the two of them. The spearow carrying Frank flew slightly behind, clearly having a hard time holding on to him. The angry ditto's yelling faded away as the spearow got further and further from Team Ace, disappearing further into the forest.

"There goes Frank." Ross said, attempting to be funny. Ruby just turned and looked at him, annoyed. A large, winged shadow passes overhead. It glided gracefully past the two trainers and flew onwards in the same direction as the Spearow flock. Ross and Ruby followed it, mouths open. Ross got up and wiped the mud and leaves of his sleeves. "Well, he's a goner. Nothing we can do there." Ruby turned angrily towards him.

"Well come on!" She shouted "Get after him!" The duo pushed themselves up and ran after their still yelling ditto friend disappearing with a flock of spearows into the distance.

…

Joe and Tom stood looking face to face, about 5 meters apart from each other, a pokéball gripped in their hand.

"Go Abra!" Tom called.

"Come on out, Pippy!" Joe yelled. They both threw their pokéballs out and they flicked open. Joe's pikachu appeared out of his pokéball; Tom's Abra appeared out of its pokéball.

"Do you nickname all your Pokémon?" Tom asked.

"Yeah." Joe replied. "Helps me build a closer bond with my team."

"That's an interesting theory you've got there." Tom commented.

"I guess you could say that." Joe said. "But never mind that. Let's battle" He flung his hand out and pointed to abra. "Pippy, use quick…"

"Why did you do that with your hand?" Winter interrupted from the side line.

Joe turned to look at her, confused. "I thought it was what all Pokémon trainers did." He replied. Winter shook her head.

"No." She told him, pitifully. "Only Gym Leaders and trainers on TV shows do that. Normal trainers don't use such stupid actions to instruct their team." Joe looked at her, slightly damp spirited.

"I'll remember that next time." He confirmed. He turned back to the battle, feeling a little dampened by the comment. "Ok." He continued "Pippy, use quick attack!" Pippy dashed forward at Abra, dashing side to side, almost invisible with how fast he was moving.

"Teleport!" Tom called. Just before Pippy could strike abra, it vanished into a tiny ball of pink-purple-black light and was gone. Pippy skidded to a halt in surprise, passing through where the levitating being had been sitting. He looked around. There was a weird liquid sloshing flash behind him as Abra reappeared, giggling to itself. The pikachu spun around, growled and charged off again towards Tom's Pokémon. Yet again it teleported into thin air. This time Pippy couldn't stop. He skidded forward, dust trailing up behind him and crashed into a nearby tree. Winter winced. Pippy hit the tree face first and immediately stopped. He fell backwards and hit the floor, his eyes spinning. Joe stood firm, the energy of the battle giving him the will to continue. Pippy managed to get himself back up but he was clearly finding it hard to stay standing, tilting from side to side with dizziness.

"You can do it, Pippy!" Joe edged on. "Use thunder shock!" Pippy nodded back to him and let loose a small electric bolt from his body, aimed directly at abra. Abra dodged by teleporting to the left but Pippy had predicted this. He let loose a second bolt one second after the first, aimed more to the left. As the bolt flew forwards a ball of pink, purple and black light appeared right in front of it. Abra was reappearing right in front of it. Pippy had managed to predict its actions. Before Abra could teleport away again the second bolt struck it in the chest and knocked it back out of the air. It wailed and floated to the ground, finally lying with its tail around its shoulder on the leaf covered floor. It didn't try to get back up. Tom groaned and withdrew Abra from the battle.

"Clever." He complimented.

"Nice work, Pippy." Joe cheered. Winter clapped encouragingly. Pippy smiled back at them and prepared to continue fighting… and then he collapsed, exhausted. "Oh no." Joe exclaimed and ran towards his unconscious team member. He picked the tiny Pokémon up in his arms. Pippy groaned with pain and exhaustion. Hitting the tree seemed to have taken most of his energy out. His eyes where hardly managing to look at anything he was so dizzy. There was no way he was going to be able to do any battling till they healed him up at the pokémon centre. "Good work buddy." Joe told him. "Take a rest for a while." Joe pulled out Pippy's pokeball and withdrew him back.

"Will he be okay?" Tom asked, concerned for the tiny creature. Tom nodded.

"Yeah, he's just a little dizzy. He just needs a rest." Joe explained. Tom understood.

"One down each." He realised. "And I'm down to my last Pokémon already." He unclipped his second pokeball and held it in his hand.

"You only have two pokémon with you?" Joe asked, surprised. Earlier he had said he'd caught fifteen different pokémon. Surely he should have a team of six on him. Tom lifted his shoulders.

"Only two on my battle team." He explain. Joe made an 'Oh' face and nodded, understanding. It still didn't make much sense but it was Tom's decision who he used on his team. Tom pulled back his arm. "Go Squirtle!" He released his arm and the ball went flying forwards into the field. It flicked open and a small blue four legged turtle appeared on the field, standing on its back legs and grinning cheekily. Joe focused back to the battle and pulled out his own second pokeball.

"Go Sting!" He yelled and threw the ball. Sting the newly formed kakuna appeared onto the field, entering his second battle ever and first battle after evolving. Now it was bug Vs water, Insect Vs reptile, cocoon Vs turtle, Kakuna Vs Squirtle.

"Tackle him, Squirtle!" Tom commanded.

"Use harden!" Joe yelled." Stings shell toughened in preparation for Squirtle's attack. Squirtle ran up, rammed into him and knocked him over, head over shell. Sting eventually managed to roll himself back up, only to be knocked strait over again by a second tackle. He rolled back up again and prepared for another attack.

"Use bubble!" Tom yelled. Squirtle took a breath in and as he exhaled a bunch of bubbled floated out. They wafted through the air, heading in Stings general direction.

"Quick, Sting, pop them before they hit you!" Joe shouted. Sting replied and fired a small purple dart at the incoming bubbles. The dart hit one and it burst into soapy droplets. He fired a couple more and another couple of bubbles evaporated into the air. Soon all the bubbles were popped as Sting shot dart after dart, defending himself from the aquatic floating hollow spheres. Squirtle growled and prepared for another tackle. Sting hardened his shell again and Squirtle charged forward. This time, instead of Sting being knocked down, it was Squirtle who was knocked back. He fell flat on his half shell and flailed about, trying to get back up. Joe resisted the urge to make a 'stuck on your back/shell' joke. Tom looked disappointed.

"Damn!" He exclaimed.

"Good work, Sting!" Joe whooped with joy. "We stand a good chance of winning this now."

There was a yell in the distance. A crash of feet. A rustling of leaves. Both trainers stopped. They turned to look at the woods. Winter and Ralph also looked to their left, staring into the forest. Squirtle rocked itself back onto its feet only to join the others looking into the forest. Sting went motionless, standing immediately into his natural defence stance, the one kakuna take up when they feel threatened. All of them stared. Two figures became visible through the forest.

"What in the…" Joe began. Ross and Ruby came rushing through the forest undergrowth, not looking where they were going. They ran into the clearing, tripped, fell forward and crashed into Joe and Winter, the two closest to them. Joe collapsed under Ruby's weight. Winter was crushed by Ross. Frank was nowhere to be seen.

"Team Ace?" Joe managed to gasp as Ruby's elbow pressed into his lungs. He pushed her of him and she rolled to the side, dazed and terrified.

"What are you doing?" Winter asked as she pushed Ross of her lap. He also lay for a second, also looking terrified.

"We gotta run!" Ross yelled at her. His eyes full of fear. "There's a flock of spearow behind us and they're coming this way."

"Spearow?" Tom repeated. "How did you manage to get chased by a flock of spearow? … Who even are you?" Ross scrambled back to his feet and began pointing the way he had come frantically.

"We kind of knocked over a couple of trees, which destroyed their nests and ticked them off." He explained in one whole sentence.

"Yeah, and he threw some stones at them when we tried to get Frank back. That didn't exactly help out. Now they're angry at us, too." Ruby added, standing up and glaring at Ross.

"Oh good job, you lot!" Joe exclaimed as he and Winter stood back up. He raised a fist to the imbecile that had just endangered all of them. "Team Ace? Team Moron sounds more like it!"

"Well we've got to run!" Ross continued, beginning to panic. "Or they'll catch up again. They'll be here any sec…" As he said it the area filled with shrieking of Pokémon and an army of spearow came into view, forming a gigantic brown bird with many eyes and beaks all over its body, a small Pokémon being held by one of the pairs of leg. The symbiotic being caught sight of the trainers and prepared to attack. A chorus of the same pitch shriek echoed through the woods.

"Oh Christ!" Winter said. The group took several steps back. The birds dived.

"Everybody run!" Joe called. They all grabbed their pokémon, turned and ran. The spearow followed closely behind them. Joe, Winter and Tom got a head start, sprinting of as soon as Joe made the call. Ralph was even further ahead of them, then slowed, remembering he was leaving his friends behind. Ross and Ruby took an extra second to realise what had been shouted but when they did start running they shot ahead of the others, sprinting so fast their legs were a cartoon blur. Ralph fell behind, keeping cover on the rear to defend his friend and trainer if the birds got to close. But even he couldn't take out an entire swarm of spearow, no matter how powerful his attacks were or how many of them attacked at once. Eventually he would tire out. Joe ran on, carrying Sting in his arms. He looked back and saw Ralph fighting back a couple of spearow that had shot ahead of the flock. "Ralph, come on. Forget them!" He shouted. Ralph sped up his flight, but didn't stop attacking. He was going to keep these creatures back. Suddenly Winter yelled and fell to a halt. Joe and Tom turned back. Her hair had gotten caught around a branch on a tree and was holding her back.

"Ahh!" She screamed and grabbed the branch, trying to free herself. "Get this thing of my hair!" Joe ran back for her. Tom followed. Ralph groaned and also flew to help, leaving several unconscious spearow behind him. Joe grabbed the branch and tried to snap it off but it wouldn't budge. It was too thick. The closest spearow took advantage and dived down, aimed at her back. A sudden jet of water flew past the two trainers and hit the spearow right before it struck Winter. Tom's Squirtle had taken it out, sitting in Tom's arms, defending them while they freed her.

"Ralph, snap the branch!" Joe commanded as Ralph turned up on the scene. Ralph nodded, flew up to the branch and brought his wing smashing down onto it. There was a blur of wind and the sound of snapping wood and the branch flew up into the air and released Winter from its grasp.

"Youch!" She cried in surprised. She was free again. They didn't spend a second standing around anymore. They continued to run on again. Ross and Ruby where far into the distance now, too far to be seen. In the distance the annoyed cries of the third member of Team Ace carried through the trees as the spearow dragged him along.

Meanwhile the remaining members of Team Ace where ages ahead, now believing they were safe and out of range.

"I think we lost them" Ruby said, gladly. Then she tripped over a branch and went flying forwards. She lunged out, grabbed Ross's shoulder and pulled him down too. They lay sprawled over the forest floor, unmoving for a while. A minute later Joe and his friends reached them. Unfortunately, due to the two of them being covered in leaves and plant mater from the trees and floor, they didn't see the two ace trainers lying on the floor. Joe caught his foot and Ross's leg. Winter caught her foot on Ruby's leg and Ralph, in an attempt to stop them falling was pulled down too. Only Tom ran past and remained standing. He stopped, turned and would have laughed if they weren't being chased. He knelt down to help them all up. Joe spat a bunch of leaves out of his mouth and looked around.

"Where's Sting?" He asked desperately. In his fall he'd let go of him, letting him fly out of his arms. He looked around franticly. Then he caught sight of him flailing around on his back a couple of metres away.

"Oh my god!" Joe exclaimed, scrambled back to his feet and ran towards him, hand out to pick him back up. And then suddenly, 'THUD!' Something giant and orangey-brown landed right between him and Sting, cawing at an ear-piercing pitch. It looked at Joe with one large, gleaming eye and turned its head, knocking Joe on the temple with a long, sharp beak. He fell backwards onto the grass and leaves. His vision blurred for a couple of seconds but when he got it back he could see two giant wings fold in and leave a giant bird Pokémon standing over the defenceless kakuna. He looked absolutely terrified. In panic he fired a poison dart at the Pokémon. It hit it in the shoulder but the Pokémon didn't even react. It let out a loud cawing of annoyance. Sting's expression went from defensive fear to stunned paralysis. The bird Pokémon lent down, opened its beak and grabbed Sting in its long mouth.

"Sting!" Joe shouted and ran at the pokémon, trying to scare it away or at least make it let go of his pokémon. It turned, looked at him and flapped its enormous wings once. The airwave it created sent everyone flying backwards onto the ground. It took off into the sky, Sting hanging in its beak, his eyes bulging, terrified. The smaller Spearow followed after it, squawking, Frank still hanging from one of their claws.

Joe knelt on the ground, arms limp against his sides, tears rolling down his face. Tom walked over to his friend and placed a kind hand on his shoulder.

"Joe. It's ok" he told him. Joe just sat knelt there, starring at the ground In front of him.

"It just took him!" He said to himself, bewildered and lost in his own thoughts. "It just flew off with one of my pokémon!"

"These things happen." Tom told him. "Even the best trainers lose their Pokémon now and then." Joe wiped a tear from his eye and looked at his friend.

"To wild pokémon?" He argued. "How many times has this happened before? When was the last time you heard of a giant bird swooping in and carrying away your bug?"

"There's still the chance we can get him back." Winter told. "If we hurry we can follow them and find where they're taking him and Frank."

"I've just started out training. How can I expect to become even slightly good when I lose a Pokémon this early on." Joe muttered, falling into his own depressed world.

"Oh stop moaning." Ruby commented, bitterly. "It's just a kakuna. And a weak one at that. I say count your losses and get over it." Joe spun around, eyes blazing. His brain switched from depressed to manic in a split second. He was furious that anyone would dare say that about his team, he didn't care who they thought they were. He ran at Ruby, fists clenched. Tom and Winter grabbed hold of him by the arms and held him back. Ralph flew in front of them to keep him from dragging them with him.

"Take that back!" Joe shouted, pure blood-dripping anger in his voice.

"Calm down, you crazy tauros." Ross laughed. "No need to stampede us over a simple comment. We simply feel that you are getting too emotional over a simple animal."

"Oh that's it!" Joe struggled in his friends grip, desperately trying to escape so he could 'explain' to these two idiots why he was upset. Winter and Tom held him back. Winter glared at Team Ace, disapproving of their attitude to the situation.

"You are horrible people!" She said, angrily. "Do you have any idea how it feels to lose a Pokémon? Your own team mate was taken by that flock of spearow and you act like he doesn't even matter!" The two ace trainers looked at each other, actually seeming to re-think their words. They looked guilty, surprisingly.

"Well, to be fair, he did disturb their nest." Ross tried to argue.

"So in a way those spearow are teaching him a lesson in that it's not a good idea to punch down trees." Ruby agreed. Tom and Winter just stared at the two of them in amazement.

"How is that fair?" Tom asked. Ross and Ruby looked at each other again, not sure how to make their argument look valid.

"Well…" Ross began.

"We… uh…" Ruby added. They had nothing. Their argument was invalid. It was at this point they began to think about their overall attitude towards being a pokemon trainer.

"Does it matter?" Joe asked as he finally stopped struggling. "What are we going to do to get Sting back?"

"And Frank" Ruby added.

"And Frank!" Joe confirmed. They all stood for a minute, thinking.

"What direction were the spearow heading in?" Winter asked. Ross unclipped a small golden encased compass from his belt and flicked the lid open.

"Well, they headed of in that direction…" Ross said, pointing of towards the forest behind the trio. "So they're heading…" He looked at the compass. "…east."

"Good." Said Tom. "If we keep heading in that direction we should find their nest." He started walking in that direction only to realise that the others weren't moving. He turned back to them. They looked at him. He kicked a leaf on the floor. "Well come on!" He called encouragingly. "We won't get our friends back if we don't go after them."

The group trekked along the forest floor in a hurry, heading east to find the annoying transforming ditto from Team Ace and the hapless kakuna from Joe's team. At the head of the group were Tom and Ross, leading the way and checking the compass to see if they were heading east still. Close behind them was Ruby and not too far behind her Joe and Winter walked at a slightly slower pace. Winter had kept herself and Joe back to make sure he didn't start another fight with either Aces, and it seemed to be doing so well. Joe had managed to calm down since his outburst earlier, but he was still looking at Ross and Ruby, making sure they weren't thinking of running off or leading them the wrong way or surprising them in any other way. He had wanted to punch Ruby so bad for what she had said about his pokémon, but in his heart he knew it would have been wrong. Violence doesn't solve arguments. Besides, he never wold have been able to live with himself if he had. What kind of a person would he be if he went around attacking people? Ralph was scouting ahead, looking for any signs of the Spearow flock. So far he hadn't spotted anything, but if he did he would come flying back to let them know. Behind him the group were beginning to get agitated.

"This is hopeless!" Ross called from the front. "They must be miles ahead of us now. We'll never find them"

Joe glared at him angrily from behind. "We're not giving up on them now." He shouted ahead. He turned to his right. "Winter, can you see Ralph?"

"No" she replied "He's still above. Don't worry. There's nothing up there that can threaten him and if he sees them he'll notify us." Joe kept walking, shoving a tree branch out of the way with his bandaged shoulder. "Joe, don't. You'll just reopen the…" Joe pulled his shirt collar down, grabbed the bandage and ripped it off after several seconds of tearing, revealing the healed scar on the blade. He then let go of his collar and proceeded to keep walking, dropping the bandage and leaving it on the mossy, leaf covered floor to decompose. Winter looked at the bandage, then his scar, then him.

"I don't need a bandage to tell me what I can and can't do." He told her, not sounding happy. She went quiet. That action had said all that was needed to be said.

Ralph meanwhile had pushed his way through the forest roof and was now looking above the trees. He scanned the branchy, leaf covered heads until he finally saw several Spearow hovering over an area of tree's that even from far away could be seen with small nests on the high branches. Ralph squinted his eyes to see if he could find any hint of his team mate or of the gelatinous blob under the name of Frank. And then suddenly he caught a glimpse of something small, thin and Brownish-yellow. A sad, lonely, frightened Kakuna lay against a small nest near the top of the nesting tree. Ralph smiled. It was Sting. He was ok, after all. Ralph swooped down, burst back through the tree canopy and glided down in front of Winter and Joe. They yelped in surprise but after seeing it was Ralph they relaxed again.

"Did you have to do that?" Winter asked him. Ralph looked at her a little confused.

"Ralph, did you find out where the Spearow went?" Joe asked. Ralph Nodded. "Where?" Ralph gestured a wing towards the way they'd been heading. He then flapped behind the duo and pushed them forward at high speed with his front wings, past the now squabbling Team Ace and Tom. They looked surprised and then ran after them.

"Don't leave us behind!" Ross shouted after them, clipping his compass away again.

They ran on and on, leaving any sign of a path behind and dashing into uncharted forest, till eventually they came to a bunch of unusually large trees, possibly conifers of some kind. The leaves were thin and pointy, yet not sharp and the trunk was quite thin. Some had small twig nests made in them. Above the trees a bunch of Spearows were flapping around in the air, guarding the tests from possible predators in the air or on the ground. Another bunch could clearly be seen building more nests and more were perched on edges. Above where the multiple choruses of cheeps and chirrups of the birds at their normal pitch, with a few higher pitch screeches coming from chicks in nests. Ralph pointed at a specific tree.

"Is he up there?" Joe asked. Ralph nodded. Joe looked up. The branches were think and the tree had several different nests in it. On top of that it was very very high up. He felt his legs begin to shake as he tried to gulp down the oncoming fear. The whole world above him seemed to suddenly spin

"I-I can't go up there" he said, shakily. The others looked at him.

"Why not?" Winter asked.

"Uh…, um." Joe stumbled over his words. He was trying to think of an explanation that wouldn't make him look cowardly in front of his friends.

"What?" She asked. Tom held a hand up to her, shaking his head and looking concerned.

"Sensitive territory." He warned her. Tom had known for a long time about Joe's fear. In fact he had been there to find out about it. When Joe was six he'd tried to climb a tree, not one as big as this one, but it was still pretty big. He and Tom had managed to make it to the top, only to find they couldn't get back down. He'd been stuck there for several hours until finally the firemen arrived to get him down. Tom had been confident enough to climb back down and get them. Joe hadn't been. To make it worse as he did try to climb down he fell slightly and fractured his arm. It had taken several weeks to heal properly. That experience had terrified him ever since.

"Well…" Joe tried again.

"What's wrong?" She asked again.

"Winter…" Tom warned her.

"Look, I have a fear of heights, ok." Joe said, embarrassed and ashamed, feeling the pressure to speak from the constant questions. Winter, Ralph, Ross and Ruby looked at him. Ralph was the most surprised of all of them. He couldn't imagine ever being afraid of heights. He had wings, height were no problem for him. It didn't make sense to his bat mind. Then, to Joe's surprise, Winter shrugged.

"So?" Winter asked. Joe looked back at her, surprised by her casual reaction.

"I am terrified of flying or being in a high up location." Joe said, really confused that they didn't find this funny. Up until now most people who had found out this had laughed at him or poked fun at him. Tom had known for a long time about Joe's fear and, because Joe was his friend, had tried to help him overcome it. It came as a total surprise to him that someone he didn't know very well wouldn't just laugh at him. In his mind, fears were a childish trait.

"So?" Winter asked again. Joe couldn't handle her reaction. He had really expected to be laughed at. He had no idea how to react to this.

"You don't find that funny?" He asked, confused. Winter looked surprised.

"No." She told him. "Everyone's afraid of something. What's funny about that?"

"Nothing" Joe said, suddenly speaking like he hadn't expected a response.

"It's true. I mean my dad has a fear of fish." Tom added. They looked at him.

"How did he get a fear like that?" Winter asked.

"Poorly cooked sushi." Tom told her. "That and he nearly got his leg bitten by a sharpedo when he was at a beach in Hoenn." They nodded in understanding. Ross gulped.

"I have automatonophobia." He admitted.

"Automa-what-ophobia?" Joe asked.

"Fear of dummies, animatronics and people dressed in costumes." Ruby said automatically, leaving no pause between comments. Tom scoffed.

"What's so scary about animatronics?" Tom asked. Ross walked over to him and whispered into his ear.

"I had a bad incident at a pizzeria once. You won't like the details." Then he stepped away.

"The point I'm trying to make is…" Winter continued. "Who cares if you have a phobia of something? Everyone is afraid of something at some point. We just need to find a way to get past that and not let them get in the way."

"How does this help me?" Joe asked. "Why am I even going up there to get Sting? Why doesn't one of you who doesn't have a fear of heights go up there instead." Tom walked up to him.

"Because Sting is your pokémon…" He told him. "And because you need to start fighting back against your fear." He pulled out a large section of rope and handed it to Joe. "So, get up there and get your friend back!" Joe looked at the rope in his hands and gripped it in his hands. He pulling his right hand holding the rope end back and swung it around over his head. He threw his arm forward and released. The rope flew up into the air, skimmed up the side of the tree and wrapped itself around a very high branch, knotting itself to place. Joe smiled.

"Alright, it's up there." He turned back to his friends. "You sure none of you want to go up instead?"

"Just get climbing already!" Winter told him, chuckling a little. Joe, awkward faced, turned back to the tree. He grabbed the rope and tugged it to make sure it wouldn't come loose, tied the end around his belt so he wouldn't fall as he climbed and began to make his way up the tree. Pulling himself up by the rope and using his legs to steer and push him up, Joe slowly made his way up the side of the trunk. Branches tugged at his clothes and hair but he still pushed on, fighting the urge to look down. The world shook and distorted a little at the bottom of his vision, yet still kept climbing. His foot slipped as a branch snapped under his weight, yet still he refused to look down. He reached one of the spearow nests, which was surprisingly large enough for him to sit in, and pulled himself up to look over the rim. A bunch of spearow were building up the nest inside and so far hadn't noticed him, except for two pairs of eyes which was sitting against the wall of twigs at the back and looking straight at him.

"You took your time getting up here." It said, sounding relatively annoyed. Joe squinted his eyes in confusion.

"Frank?" Joe asked.

"Who did you think it was?" Frank asked sarcastically "But going back to my last question. What took you so long? I've been waiting here, a prisoner for over an hour!"

"Wait. If you can change into any form, why don't you just turn into one of them and fly off? They wouldn't attack you. "

"Hmmm." Frank pondered. "I hadn't thought of that."

"That makes sense" Joe said as he watched Frank change into a spearow and flap his fake wings. He ignored the morphing blob and grabbed a branch above him, pulling himself higher up the tree.

"Hold up a second!" Frank said, suddenly. "Don't leave me here. Take me with you, or at least take me down."

"I can't take you back down. That would take too long and we need to get Sting back as soon as possible."

"Well tough!" Frank yelled suddenly and lunged at Joe, grabbing the rope he had tied around his belt.

"Get off!" Joe yelled and tried to swat him away. "You can fly! Just flap your way down!" Frank let go of the rope and tried to stay in the air but was clearly struggling.

"I'm not naturally meant to fly!" He yelled and fell out of the air. He fell for a brief time, then... 'Smack!' Ruby caught Frank in her arms just before he hit the ground. Joe meanwhile was desperately trying to hold on to the rope he was tied around. He grabbed the nearest branch and then suddenly there was a snapping sound, the rope around his belt fell away in two pieces and he was left hanging from a branch with no safety harness. He hung there free with his arms tied up around the single piece of wood, desperately trying not to look down. The fear came back again, more overwhelming and nerve gripping then before. He wanted to let go so that he knew he would at least be back on the ground, but at the same time he wanted to cling on for dear life, desperate not to give in to gravity's pull.

_'No!'_ He thought. _'I'm not giving up like this! Not while I can still save my friend!'_ He pulled himself up and reached about above. His fingers scrapped against a branch somewhere above his head and he grabbed it and kept on climbing. He climbed faster now that he was free, moving from branch to branch, all while making sure not to look down and keep an eye on where his feet landed. He eventually reached another nest and pulled himself over and in. Unfortunately this one was occupied currently. Sitting inside were several grumpy, unhappy looking spearow. Upon sighting him they attacked, diving at Joe and tugging at his hair.

"Get off!" He exclaimed, swatting them away. "Leave me alone! Shoo! Get away!" He ignored them and kept on climbing. The spearow continued to pester him and he ran across the nest and up the tree again, grabbing a new branch and beginning to climb. A couple of the spearow broke away and flew at the others below.

"Look out!" Winter shouted, spotting the circling birds above as they dived out of their nests.

"We can take care of them" Tom said and released Squirtle. Winter nodded and brought out Staryu to fight the spearow of. While this was going on Joe kept climbing up and up, higher up the tree. He reached the final highest nest at the top of the tree and peered over. There inside the nest at the back surrounded by several spearow eggs, was a small brownish-yellow Kakuna, looking scared out of his mind.

"Sting!" Joe yelled with Joy and pulled himself into the nest. He ran towards his friend and grabbed him in his arms. "You're ok!" Sting smiled at him, joyfully (Or the best smile he could do without a mouth. It was at least visible in his eyes.) "Don't worry, I'll get you back down." Joe told him, reassuringly. There was a sudden heavy movement of air behind him. Something quite large landed behind him. Joe turned to see the large brown bird land behind him. This time he got a proper view of it. The Pokémon was huge, at least 3 feet tall, not as big as he was but what it lacked in physical size it made up for with intimidation size. It's two, huge wings spanned out 3 times the size of its body. Its long sharp beak almost poked into Joes face and the whites of its eyes caught the sun as it passed overhead. And it was angry. Very, very angry.

"Fearow" Joe exclaimed. "Should have known, I guess." He took a step back. The fearow took a step forward. Joe took another step back. The evolution of spearow took another step forward. Joe turned and ran towards the edge of the nest and the fearow took off. It circled above him as he began to climb back down the tree, shimmying from branch to branch, watching his footing. And then it dived. It crashed past Joe and Sting, snapping several branches with its tough wings and knocked him off balance.

"Wha!" Joe exclaimed. He tried to get balance back but he branch was already breaking away. His finger slipped and he fell back to earth, holding Sting to his chest as they fell together.

Down below Ralph, Winter and Tom were still fighting off the spearow which were proving to be very difficult to take out, especially in a small swarm like this. But they seemed to be handling it for the most past as every few seconds a spearow would collapse or fly away in pain or exit the swarm only to fly back in a few seconds later. Ralph looked up to see if any more birds where on their way down and spotted his trainer plummeting down from a very high up branch, Sting gripped in his arms. At first he thought he had simply slipped and fallen, but would be able to get his grip back. Then he noticed that the rope around his waist had snapped. Ralph panicked. He gave one mighty flap of his wings and shot up into the sky, towards his friend. The four trainers on the ground turned in surprise to see him fly away into the green leaf covered sky.

"Hey, get back here!" Ruby shouted after him. "Where's he going?"

"To help Joe." Tom told her. "Now stop standing there and give me and Winter a hand.

Ralph flew up and up in a diagonal path, aimed for precisely underneath his trainer so as to catch him before he hit the ground. Joe fell for several seconds, there was a whooshing sound and then an 'Umph' as Joe crashed onto Ralphs back. Unfortunately, due to the sudden surprise of the extra wait and force Joe had been creating as he fell, Ralph couldn't take the weight of carrying his trainer, and he fell out of the air, held out his wings to slow his fall and crashed into the forest floor. The fearow dived again, now aiming at Ralph. Joe recovered quickly and rolled of Ralph's back, lying on the ground. He saw it approaching, beak spiked and sharp and aimed at him and Sting.

"Look out!" He shouted and tried to shove Ralph. He had to admit Ralph didn't look that heavy and he normally wasn't, but when he was half dug into the ground he proved to be a strain to even slightly move. Joe finally managed to role him and himself aside just in time as the fearow landed right where they had been lying, striking dry forest ground and leaving claw marks in the dirt. It cawed and turned to fight them. Joe stood up weakly and Ralph was struggling to get back into the air. Sting seemed to be the only one who was able to fight at this point. He made a gurgling buzzing sound and struggled in Joe's grip. Joe looked at him and tried to hold him tighter, but the buggy cocoon wasn't making it easy for him.

"Sting, don't!" Joe told him. "You can't hurt it. Your attacks aren't strong enough." Sting refused to listen. Instead he continued to struggle. A line of silk thread shot out from the tip of his cocoon shell, passed through the gap in Joe's arms and wrapped around the fearows head. It struggled to get the string off its head but only managed to get some of it stuck to its wing as well. It lunged, only to have another strand wrap around its beak. Joe was surprised. He looked down at Sting

"Let him fight!" Winter called from the distance. Joe turned to see Tom and Winter watching him, a flock of angry birds fleeing as they were finally beaten. "Let him take it on. He can do it. If he is able to tie it up he can defeat it. Just let him try." Joe looked away and back to Sting. He seemed quite eager to fight still, wriggling in Joe's grip and trying to fire more string. Joe sighed.

"Ok, Sting." He said, trying to be reassuring. "Are you sure you can take this fearow out?" Sting looked back at Joe and nodded. "Ok then." He said and put Sting down onto the ground. Sting began to hop forwards slight and then wrested on his shell tip, glaring at the angered avian predator. Ralph had managed to pull himself out of the dirt now and was beginning to crawl his way back to join Joe and possibly help him win the battle.

From above, there was a sudden terrified yelling as something plummeted down towards the ground. Winter, Tom, Ross and Ruby looked up. Falling from the sky was a small, terrified looking spearow, screaming in a human voice.

"Caaaaaatttccchhhhh Meeeeeeee!"

"What the hell is that?" Tom asked.

"It's another one of those damn spearows coming back for more." Ross bent down, grabbed a stick on the floor and prepared to throw it." Ruby grabbed his arm.

"Stop!" She shouted at him. "It's Frank, you dimwit! Catch him, quickly."

"Why me?" Ross asked.

"Because you've got bigger arms then me." Ruby told him. Ross sighed and walked under the growing shadow of the falling ditto. Frank was only metres above the forest floor now. Ross held up his arms to catch him. And then the two of them met six feet from the ground. A second later they were both on the floor, Frank lying on Ross's head and Ross trying to get out from under him.

"Gyaack!" He spat feathers from his mouth and tried to lift the winded bird/jelly blob of his face. "Get… him… of… my… face!" He managed to muffle from under the bird. Frank changed back to his normal form and fell off Ross, hitting the floor beside him and lying there in a pink puddle. Ruby ran over, grabbed him by the stretch face and lifted him into her arms.

"You nutty fool!" She exclaimed as she hugged him. "What were you doing jumping out of a tree?" Frank moaned.

"I didn't do it on purpose!" He told her through a liquid gelatine mouth. "I was under pressure. The spearows I was staying with were getting edgy and it's not easy to fly when you have no wings. Well… no natural wings that you know how to use." Ruby ignored him and instead hugged him happily.

"At least you're okay." She told him. Frank struggled to breath in her grip. Because his body was still recovering from fall impact he was stretching every time he moved. The result of being hugged had left him very tall with a very thin middle body and a very fat upper body.

"Gha… To tight! To tight! You're crushing me" He gasped. Ruby loosened her grip and apologised.

"Do you think we could go now?" Ross asked from his place on the floor. Ruby looked unhappily at him.

"Yeah, that's what we're doing" She told him. She then proceeded to walk away.

"Hey, don't leave me here!" Ross called after them. "Give me a hand up! No love for Ross? Help me goddamn up!" Ruby didn't look back at him. Instead she called back.

"You have legs. You can walk. You have arms. You can get yourself up. I'm not helping you." Ross moaned annoyed. He struggled to sit up, pushed himself eventually out of his own personal crater and hobbled after them, his whole body aching from receiving a rather heavy sparrow bird that turned out not to be a bird at all, but rather a big blob of pink mush.

"Should we stop them?" Tom asked. Winter shook her head.

"No, let them go. They'll just annoy us, anyway."

"Sting, use poison sting!" Joe commanded. In the battle Sting shot a poison barb at the fearow, striking it in the belly. If flinched and struggled even more as it tried to break the string around its mouth away. Finally the string broke away and the Fearow lunged at Sting, beak open and cawing loudly. Sting hardened his shell and the fearow let out a screech of pain as it tried to bite down on the tiny Kakuna's tough shell. It backed away, grabbing at its mouth with its wings

"Keep it back, Sting!" Joe yelled in encouragement. "You can do it". Suddenly, to his surprise, Sting charged. He lunged forwards on invisible legs and crashed straight into fearow's side, knocking it back. As he did so his shell began to grow and crack, becoming at least twice the size it had been. Bits of shell began to break away, revealing striped skin underneath. Fearow turned back and cawed, ready to attack again, only to find a string of silk wrapping around its beak, fired from Stings mouth. His eyes turned red and bright. An arm broke out of the shell, tipped with a long, shiny, silver drill. Another arm broke out of the opposite side, tipped again in another long, sharp, shiny silver drill. A buzzing sound emitted from within the shell. The outside layer began to wrinkle and grey and fall apart. Fearow charged, claws up and out to slash. Sting lashed out with his new arms as four insect legs broke through the bottom of the cocoon. He raised his stingers, jumped and struck the fearow in the face with them both at the same time. As he did so the cocoon finally shattered and broke free, releasing the newly formed Sting from his imprisoning shell. Fearow fell back, cradling its face as it cried in pain. Sting scrapped his stingers across one-another in a threatening manner. He had hardly even noticed the changes that had occurred to him. Joe stared in amazement. It had all happened so fast, there hadn't even been any warning. He had just broken out of his chrysalis when he felt the time was right, leaving everyone stunned. Sting was no longer a weak, slow and defenceless Kakuna. Joe's small friend was now 3 foot tall, almost the same size as the Fearow. He now had black stripes covering his totally yellow body and, as well as the two very thin arms that ended with drill like stingers, he also had a third stinger at the end of his abdominal body. he had two see-through wings on his back that made a loud buzzing sound when they flapped. And last of all was his face. He had long black antennae on the top which twitched at the slightest sound, smell and touch, big red insect eyes which saw everything and a hidden insect mouth which buzzed and chewed on nothing. Sting had hatched into a brand new, fully grown, ready to fight, multi-minded Beedrill. Joe was speechless. He had no idea how to react, it had been so sudden. The only word he could manage to say in response was…

"Woah!" Sting looked back at Joe and saw his face of amazement looking back at him. Sting looked down at himself and jumped in surprise. Even he hadn't noticed that he'd evolved. It had been so fluent and sudden and yet so natural that he had hardly had a moment to even think he was doing it. It had just fell like shrugging of a layer of skin. He looked back at Joe and made an exciting buzzing sound. Joe smiled back "Now this fight will be a lot easier." He smiled. Ralph didn't look as happy about Stings new form. He wasn't too keen on Beedrills ever since the incident with that swarm on the hill when they met. Not to say he didn't like Sting, far from it. He just didn't like the way he looked. It would probably take him a while to get used to looking at it. He'd just have to remember not to attack him out if mistaking him for a wild beedrill. They were single minded creatures until caught, but Sting wasn't one of them. His mind was free.

"What the hell was that?" Winter asked. She and Tom had just watched the transformation and they were both equally amazed. They had never seen a giant insect burst forth from a chrysalis before, let alone during a battle. It was quite amazing to watch.

"Metamorphosis!" Tom whispered. She looked at him. He gasped. "Bloody hell that was awesome!"

"Sting, use fury attack!" Joe commanded. Sting charged the fearow and jabbed it several times in the chest with its front stingers. The fearow let out a painful caw and swiped at Sting with its wing. Sting dodged and lunged again, this time hitting it from behind. After a couple more hits the Fearow finally gave ip and flew off, leaving the trainers alone. Not before giving Joe an angry glare at the same time. Joe glared back at it, seemingly telling it that he was the boss around here and that, if it was smart, it would not bother them again. The fearow seemed to get the message. It flew away into the trees, landing on a nest and taking roost in it, leaving the trainers alone for the rest of their time in the forest.

"We got rid of them" Winter said as Joe, Ralph and Sting joined back with the group.

"Yeah, we did." Joe agreed. He smiled at Sting and Ralph who smiled back. Ralph was keeping his distance from Sting. He didn't really trust him that much. Sting felt confused by this action but he didn't let it bother him. Joe turned back to friends. "We should keep going on to Pewter City." Joe decided. Then he noticed someone was missing. "Where's Team Ace?" He asked

"They ran off" Tom explained. "They got their friend back and ran off, into the woods. They didn't even stay to apologise or thank us for getting him back." Joe rolled his eyes. That was probably to be expected of Team Ace. They seemed the type to run away once they had the chance.

"Never mind them." Joe told him. "I expect we'll probably run into them again at some point." He waved a hand past him "Let's get going again. We're nearly there."

Meanwhile Ross, Ruby and Frank walked through the woods, heading for Pewter city, carrying the squished Frank in her arms. All the way they were chuckling.

"We… really showed them… didn't we." Ruby panted as she and Ross run through the trees.

"Yeah… we did…" Ross agreed. Frank looked at them.

"What are you on about?" He asked. "I got squashed, we got attacked buy a bird, and on top of that we didn't even try to kidnap that bat. Instead we aided in helping him get one of his pokémon back. Ross and Ruby stopped. They looked at each other. Then, in complete sycronisation, they let out an annoyed.

"DAMN IT!"

The group finally arrived at the exit to Viridian Forest. Finally, after hours of walking and traveling, they had reached the outskirts of Pewter city.

"Well this is where I have to leave you guys." Tom announced as they reached the exit. "But it's been fun seeing you again, Joe."

"It was nice seeing you, too." Joe told him.

"It was nice meeting you, Tom." Winter said, holding out her hand. Tom took her hand and shook it.

"I was nice meeting you, too." He agreed. He then turned back to Joe "We should have another battle next time we meet" he thought.

"Will do." Joe agreed. Then he noticed something new about his friend. A third pokeball was attached to his belt. Joe looked at it. He was sure that Tom had only had two on him when they'd met. Where had this third one come from? "When did you catch a third pokémon, Tom?" Joe asked. Tom followed his gaze.

"Oh, I caught it while you and Sting were fighting of the fearow" He explained. "One got a little too friendly, so I caught it. Can't miss a chance like that." Joe shrugged.

"I guess you can't." Tom let go of his hand.

"I'll see you again at some point." He said. And then he walked away, heading back the way they came. Joe and winter turned to each other.

"Interesting friend you have." She told him. "He seems very focused on catching pokémon, but not so much on training them." Joe nodded.

"He always was kind of like that." He admitted. "He always wanted a big library of pokémon to choose from. You could kind of call him greedy for it. But I'm sure he checks on them and makes sure they're all happy in his PC. Besides, Oak can look after them too at his lab. He's got it all sorted out I think."

"He didn't tell you that it was a spearow he caught, did he?" She said. Joe shrugged.

"I had kind of caught on to what he meant. What other pokémon were around during that battle that we saw?" Winter nodded. Joe scratched his head. "Anyway, we should get going, before we grow roots in out boots." She chuckled.

"Yeah, or before Team Ace comes back." They smiled and turned, stepping forwards out of the woods. For Joe this was the first major goal point in his journey. He was walking into his first city with a gym he could face. They walked towards Pewter City.


	5. Chapter 5: The Earth Brothers

"Here are your Pokémon." The nurse said as she handed three poké balls over the counter. Joe nodded and scooped them up, clipping them onto his belt. He and Winter had finally reached Pewter city after their tough journey through the forest and his team were exhausted from all the battling and training.

"Thank you, Nurse Joy." He said as he took back his poké balls and clipped the two normal, red balls onto his belt. She pressed a button on the glass case and Ralph flew out, joining Joe's side once more. He looked happy and excited again. The last day had been a trial for them both but they'd pulled through. Now they were about to take on their first real challenge. A gym leader. It would be an all new task. Joe nodded his thanks to the nurse.

"Don't forget to come back and heal when your pokémon are hurt." She smiled.

"I won't." Joe told her. At first he had been surprised to find that this nurse looked exactly the same as the nurse from Viridian city pokémon centre. Not only that, she sounded the same and had the exact same name. When he mentioned that it turned out she had never met it before. Winter had to explain to him that, in fact, all the nurses in Kanto were biologically related. She explained that they were a group of identical sisters that all had the same name and all happened to take up the same carrier paths. There were apparently twelve of them, one for each major pokémon centre in Kanto. Joe thought that this was either a very serious coincidence or something somehow planned out. He decided not to dwell on it. Still, it made him think.

"Come back any time." The nurse called as they left the pokémon centre. The glass door slid shut behind them and Joe and Winter walked out onto the smooth stone path. Pewter City itself seemed to be made mostly of stone. The buildings where made of a cheap but strong and stable stone brick with slate roofs. Even the Pokémon Centre was made partially of a whiter chalklike brick in parts. The roof was orange plastic like in all the other cities but the pokeball logo was made of coloured stone. To the north of the city they could see the pokémon gym, sitting alone surrounded by a short wooden fence around the perimeter. It looked like the kind of place that the strongest trainer in town would train and battle.

"So what's your plan now?" Winter asked. Joe shrugged.

"Well there's the gym. I could challenge the leader straight away." He told her. "Try and improve my skills and all. And get a badge at the same time."

"We could visit the museum." Winter mentioned. She looked towards the further north of the city. On top of a low hill was a large white building made of white marble. Beside the building where several small flower gardens. It looked quite rich in comparison to the rest of the city, but considering what the building was used for it only made sense. "I heard they have many rare fossils that are worth looking at. I think the Gym leader hangs around there often. We might bump into them."

"Sounds pretty good to me." Joe agreed. "Even if it's just to pass the time. I don't think my pokémon are exactly ready to jump into a big battle straight after resting. I know I'm not." Ralph nodded his head in agreement.

"That's no problem. Even if we spend an hour in there, there should still be time left to take on the gym before dusk. What time is it now?" She asked. Joe looked at his pokétch.

"3:45pm" He told her. She gestured with a hand.

"See. There's plenty of time." She nudged her head. "Come on. Let's get going before we both die of old age."

The museum itself was nothing more than a large manor house made of chalk white stone. It was over twice the length of all other buildings in the city and was renowned throughout Kanto for having the largest collection of Pokémon fossils on display. Joe and Winter were already inside, having walked in through the main entrance, passed a guard who was checking for cameras and… other stuff, and paid the small entrance fee. Ralph was not with them. Pokémon were not allowed inside the museum for fear that they might attempt to chew on the fossils on display or attempt to take something back out with them, so he'd been left outside the museum waiting for them. Joe had attempted an argument with the security team in order to try and get him in but to no avail. They didn't leave him outside alone though. Winter had let Staryu out for a bit of time to keep him company. Inside the museum it was surprisingly empty. Apart from a couple of archaeologist types, a few historians and several small families with kids, there weren't that many other people around. Currently the two of them were looking at the 'large' selection of ancient fossils on display near the middle of the room. There weren't just Pokémon fossils on display, either. There were also ancient ruins, symbols that looked like strangely shaped letters with eyes, stone weapons and equipment, fossilized plant life, sea shells, ammonites of multiple sizes and a wide variety more. Joe let out a loud yawn. He wasn't too interested in history. It had been his least favourite class in school. Winter at least seemed to be enjoying her time there. To Joe these ancient fossils looked lake useless, patterned, oddly shaped stones, but her they were like books from the past. She was at least interested in finding out their history. In truth, the only reason they were there was to kill a bit of time.

"Come look at this." Winter said and pointed at a casing she was standing over. Joe walked out of his corner which he'd been happily drifted away in and joined his friend standing by a case in the centre of the room. Inside the case was a cut lump of rock with a shape in it. It looked like a dome of some kind, maybe a shell of some kind clearly worn on the back of the creature wearing it. "If I'm correct, that's the fossil of a kabuto." She educated. "An ancient Pokémon that used to live in this region way back the earlier years of our planet. Died out millions of years ago." Joe looked at the rock shape and shrugged.

"Huh, interesting." He said, uninterestedly. She rolled her eyes.

"Do you not think that's interesting?" Winter asked.

"It's indifferent to me, to be honest." He told her. "Personally I feel the past should stay in the past." She shook her head sadly. His attitude disappointed her.

"Well I think it's quite interesting." She told him. "I mean, considering the pokémon we know today, it's interesting to have a look at what they looked like in the past, even if it's a different species that no longer exists."

"Some people think that Pokémon came from space." Joe told her, defiantly. She looked at him.

"Some" Winter agreed. "I don't agree with that belief. There's not really any proof for it."

"What about moon stones?" Joe asked.

"That's just a name. There's no solid evidence of them coming from the moon. They're probably just names that because they're commonly found in Mount Moon."

"You got me there. I was just throwing around ideas."

She turned and walked over to another display near the centre. This one, instead of being in a case, was hanged out on multiple metal rods holding it out in the right shape and in the right body places. Joe joined her. "What Pokémon do you think that is?" She asked. They both looked up at a large, seven foot tall, dragon like skeleton with small wing bones on its back and tiny arms and legs. The biggest parts of its body seemed to be its tail and its ribcage.

"I don't know." Joe replied. "Some type of Dragon I guess."

"You'd be right there." Said a voice from behind them. They turned. There stood two young trainers, one of them was the same age as Joe and Winter, the other was maybe two years older. They looked to be related. The younger one had a mild tan skin tint and blue eyes with light brown hair. He was wearing a pale brown long sleeved shirt with crossed sandslash claws as a logo and dark brown cargo pants. The older boy was almost exactly the opposite. He was taller and paler than his friend with brown eyes and very dark brown hair. He wore a dark brown shirt with an onix tail crossing the centre as the logo underneath a grey hoodie and light blue jeans.

"This skeleton belonged to a dragonite." The younger boy said. "A Pokémon that is still around today."

"Yet only through evolution now. I personally prefer to stick with pokémon a little more common." The older boy said. "Still, it's a dragon and dragons are pretty cool."

"Um, I guess." Winter agreed unsure. These two had just popped up out of nowhere and started a conversation with them. It was always awkward when people did that.

"Do you two research into this kind of stuff then?" Joe asked. They both shook their heads slowly.

"No. It's just a hobby of ours. Fossils are part of our job." The younger boy said. "But where are our manors? I'm Gordon." He held out a hand. Joe and Winter shook it, formerly.

"And I'm Rocky." The older boy joined in. "And, If you hadn't picked up on it yet, we're the Gym leaders of this city."

"You're both the gym leader?" Winter pondered. "Last I heard the Gym leader of this city was a guy called Brock."

"He used to be the gym leader." Gordon said. "He left a couple of years ago. Rocky took his place sometime after. Then I joined to help out and give our challengers more of an interesting challenge."

"The challenge of battling one of you wasn't challenging enough already?" Joe asked.

"It's something many gym leaders have been trying. We found that a lot of trainers we faced were able to beat us quite quickly, so we decided we needed to make the battles more interesting with unique set ups. It's not terribly important, thought."

"Oh, right. Sounds fair to me." Joe nodded. Rocky suddenly seemed to snap his fingers. It was hard to tell because the sound his action made didn't make a snapping sound. It sounded more like a scraping sound.

"Oh, by the way, if either of you were planning to challenge the gym, we're there 12 hours a day, from dawn to dusk, every day." Rocky added. "I assume you are both trainers. We've never seen you around and we know pretty much everyone in town." Joe smiled out of the side of his mouth. He was wandering if they would bring this up.

"I was planning to take on the gym today" Joe told them. "And it sounds like you two are free for challengers. This is the first gym I've battled, however, so I'm probably not going to do too well." Rocky smiled and shrugged.

"Don't worry. Most trainers who face us are new. We work at the first gym, after all. Every new trainer has to face us at some point." He chuckled. "Don't think that means either of us will go easy on you."

"I wasn't expecting you to." Joe admitted. "I can be down there in a minute. I just need to get my Pokémon from outside first." Gordon's eyebrows rose slightly.

"Was that Crobat and Staryu sitting outside your Pokémon?" He asked. Joe narrowed his brow.

"The Crobat is." Joe answered. "But the Staryu is Winter's." He nudged his shoulder to his friend on his right. Winter nodded in agreement.

"Well, you might want to train it up then." Rocky told him "Or catch yourself a water or grass type Pokémon. Flying types aren't likely to last long against us."

"You see we're the Earth Brothers." Gordon told him. "Apply named because of our family relationship and because of the types we use in battle. I use ground type Pokémon while Rocky here uses Rock Pokémon. Flying types sadly don't stand much of a chance against us."

"Rock and ground." Joe repeated. "Does steel not get a show?" Gordon and Rocky chuckled.

"Well, no. There's only the two of us. We don't have a third brother or sister. If we did though, ha, they'd probably be called Stan or Stella."

"Indeed." Winter said. Joe nodded.

"Well, thank you for the pointers." He said. "But we should probably go and get ready. I need to grab Ralph from outside." The two gym leaders nodded.

"We'll see you at the Gym then." Rocky said. "If you don't know where it is, it's the isolated building made of thick stone and surrounded by fence."

Yeah, I've already found it, thanks." Joe replied. The two brothers turned, walked to the door and strolled out.

"Are you going to challenge them right now?" Winter asked.

"Yeah." Joe told her. "I do need to make sure my pokémon are ready to battle and that I have any items I may need. This is going to be my toughest battle so far, so I want to make sure I'm prepared before I jump in head first. "

"No amount of preparing can ensure victory in these kind of battles." Winter explain. Joe nodded.

"Sure." He agreed. "But it must at least help."

The two friends and one large purple bat walked through the sliding glass doorway to Pewter city gym. Inside wasn't too surprising. The entirety of the building looked like a Pokémon colloseum. The floor was a flat plastic surface with little grip so the battling pokémon weren't slowed down by friction on the floor, with chalk outlines to resemble a professional battle field. Around the room where rows of seats and stands where the audience could watch the gym leader and the challenger do battle. In the centre of the battle field stood the two gym leaders, Rocky and Gordon. Joe and Ralph nodded their welcome and walked up to the centre, standing in front of his opponents. Winter, clearly having been in a gym before and knowing the format, walked up into the stands and found a seat. Also sitting in the stands where a group of excited young trainers, clearly the gyms trainees. Every gym had its own trainers which would battle practicing challengers to see if they were ready to face the gym leader or just to give them more experience. They weren't usually very tough and were there more for their own experience than for the challengers.

"You come to challenge our gym." Gordon said. "And earn yourself the Boulder Badge."

"But are you prepared to fight your first Gym leaders?" Rocky added. "The strongest trainers in this town?" Joe nodded

"I am." He said.

"Then we shall see who you will battle first." Gordon pressed a button on his podium. Suddenly a large screen dropped down from the darkness above and hung several meters from the ground. On this screen was a large golden coin that spun slowly at the centre. On one side was the image of a large rock, on the other was a clump of ground.

"The coin shall decide. Heads is me. Tails is my brother." Rocky announced. "Gordon pressed a button and the coin started to spin faster and faster. Finally it dropped and hit the bottom of the screen, stopping on the side with the earth on it.

"Tails." Gordon said. "I will be the first to fight you, then. If you take up place by your podium then we can begin the battle." Joe nodded and turned, walking back to the other side of the field. There was indeed a podium at the edge of the field. He took up place on it as Ralph joined him. He had already told his friend that he wanted him by him as a last resort if the battle went south quickly. Ralph had agreed to this, but it didn't mean he had to be happy about it. Joe was in position, looking directly at his opponent, Gordon the Ground Gym leader. The large screen had changed to show the health of the fighting Pokémon with a little image of it at the edge so the combatants knew whose health was whose. Rocky pressed another button and the field suddenly shifted and changed from being flat and shiny to being rough and sandy to create a field that suited the habitat of ground types. Gordon stepped onto his own podium now, gripping a single pokeball in his hand. He pulled back his arm and threw the ball.

"Go Sandshrew!" Gordon yelled. The ball touched ground and snapped open, releasing a small, sand coloured, small armed, cute faced shrew-like pokémon with skin patterned like bricks. It rubbed its head, blinked with its big black eyes and mewed adorably before readying up to fight. Joe reached for his own pokeball. He'd always wanted to see a sandshrew with his own eyes. He'd seen images and documentaries but they were just as adorable in real life. He gripped a pokeball.

"Come on out, Sting!" Joe commanded and threw out Stings Pokémon. The ball opened and released the beedrill in all his insect glory. He seemed quite excited to battle again. Since he'd evolved he had become a lot more efficient at it. On the board the stats for both Sting and Sandshrew had appeared. The two Pokémon began staring each other down. And then commands began coming.

"Sting used twin needle!" Joe commanded. Sting flew at sandshrew, stingers pointing out together.

"Sandshrew, evade it!" Gordon instructed. Sandshrew ran at Sting and dodged out of the way of his attack. "Now used scratch!" Gordon instructed again. Sandshrew ran at Sting from the side and swiped at him with a claw, hitting him in the head and knocking him back. On the screen Stings health bar dropped slightly. Sting rolled in the air but regained balance, buzzing wildly and jittering around manically.

"Poison sting!" Joe commanded. Sting lunged at sandshrew and stabbed it in the chest with a purple oozing stinger, but Sandshrew didn't flinch or even show any form of pain. Its health bar hardly budged an inch. Joe gasped, confused "What?" He muttered stunned. "How come it didn't do anything?" he asked.

"Oh, you didn't know?" Gordon asked. "Ground type are resistant to poison moves. Not only that, they're also strong against them."

"Damn." Joe cursed. "Ok. Sting, use fury attack. Sting started jabbing at Sandshrew and hit it 3 times before it dodged all the other hits. Its health bare dropped a bit more. "Again!" Joe yelled.

"Look out!" Gordon cried. Sting threw jab after jab after jab at Sandshrew and, even though it managed to dodge a couple, it was slowly loosing health. Its health bar was now half way down. "Sand attack!" Gordon yelled. Sandshrew swiped at the ground, kicking up a lump of sand and spraying it in front as a dusk cloud. The sand hit Sting in the face as he came in to attack, blinding him periodically. Sandshrew took advantage of his periodical blindness. "Dig!" Gordon yelled. Sandshrew dived forwards and began digging, spraying more sand up and disappearing under the ground. Sting rubbed his eyes, blinked, recovered his sight and looked around. Sandshrew was nowhere to be seen. It had vanished completely of the face of the earth. Sting looked around, trying to find it. While he was busy with this he failed to notice the ground under him begin to give way. Sting suddenly heard a scrabbling sound bellow him. He looked down. Sandshrew jumped out of a sudden hole beneath and slashed him in the face. He yelled, winced and fell back, grabbing his face.

"You can do it, Sting" Joe yelled "Use twin needle!" Sting spun around just as Sandshrew jumped back out of the ground to attack again, stabbed both drill like stingers into Sandshrew's chest at the same time and it out of the air. It hit the ground in a cloud of sand with a light thud and lay there, unconscious. Its health bar dropped completely to zero. Gordon sighed.

"I have been beaten." He announced, embarrassed but not ashamed. "Congratulation. Now you need only beat Rocky and then we can give you your gym badge." Gordon then stepped back and Rocky walked in from the sides, taking up his position at the podium.

"Prepare yourself." He said, surprisingly fiercely. He pressed the button on his podium stand. The battle field and score board reset. The field changed again but this time it was a lot more rocky and rough and had large boulders poking out of the ground. Rocky grabbed his single pokémon and readied it in a hand. Joe did the same.

"Come back, Sting." He called and withdrew the now quite happy beedrill from the field. He then reached for his next pokeball. "Go, Pippy." He shouted. The ball flew out and released the energetic yellow mouse onto the rocky terrain. Rocky held out his hand.

"Win this, Crash!" He yelled. The ball snapped open in his hand and a beam shot out, touching the ground in a red arc. The light faded and a large, stone snake creature with a long fin on its head appeared on Rocky's side of the battlefield.

"An Onix." Winter muttered under her breath as she watched from the side. "Oh dear."

Crash the Onix stared down at the tiny yellow mouse that opposed it, unemotional, unintimidated.

"You nickname your Pokémon as well?" Joe questioned.

"Yeah." Rocky replied. "I always have. Gordon isn't in to that thing. Apparently most other gym leaders 'don't do that'." And then he remembered the battle that was going on. "Enough talking. Crash, use tackle!" Crash charged at Pippy.

"Look out Pippy! Evade!" He yelled. Pippy jumped aside as Crash came sliding past, ripping up the ground in his wake as his rock shell dug through stone. Then he turned and came back, head lowered and ready to strike. "Use thundershock!" Joe commanded. Pippy let out a small bolt of electricity at Crash but he just shook it of like it was nothing. Rocky laughed.

"Electricity doesn't affect ground types." He told him. "Now Crash, use bind!" Crash wrapped its long stone tail around the tiny Pikachu and gripped it tight, crushing it in its body. Pippy struggled to get free but Crash's bind had it held tight. On the screen Pippy's health was dropping dramatically.

"Come on, Pippy!" Joe yelled encouragingly. Winter Joined it.

"You can do it!" She shouted. Pippy tried using thundershock again but Crash didn't even react. He just continued to crush the life out of the helpless creature. Soon Pippy was too tired to carry. No matter how hard he tried he just couldn't break free. Eventually he collapsed in his grip. Crash finally let go and Pippy dropped onto the ground, weakened and unconscious. Joe pulled out Pippy's poké ball.

"Good try buddy. Time to come back." The beam of light shot out, engulfed Pippy and drew him back in.

"Do you give up?" Rocky asked. Joe stared him down with a remaining defiant gaze.

"No" He said boldly. "I still have one more Pokémon who can fight for me." He looked at Ralph who was clearly ready to avenge his friend. "You ready?" He asked. Ralph nodded with a determined glare. Joe waved a hand. Ralph flew in and took Pippy's place in the battle.

"No, don't send Ralph in!" Winter thought as she watched. "He'll get knocked from the sky! He has no moves to fight rock types!" Joe sadly could not hear her thoughts, and he hadn't realised this tiny flaw in his plan. Instead he started to bark commands, with the futile belief he still stood a chance.

"Ralph, use wing attack!" He called. Ralph flew at the giant stone snake and struck it on the side with its wing. A second later Ralph wailed in pain and folded his wing in, diving into a glide and using his other wing as a steering rod. His attack had done more damage to him then it had his opponent. Crash recoiled and its health bar dropped slightly but it seemed to recover instantly, hardly showing any sign of being hurt afterwards. His attack had done almost nothing to it.

"Rock throw!" Rocky commanded. Crash lifted a large boulder with its tail and threw it at Ralph. He saw it coming and dodged out of the way just in time.

"Bite!" Joe yelled. Ralph swooped down and bit into Crash's tail. He let go quickly after, screeching in immense pain. Ralph had damaged his teeth on the tough rock shell. Both pokémon had taken damage.

"Strike it!" Rocky yelled. Crash swung its tail up and struck Ralph in the face as he tried to recover from the bite, knocking him backwards and causing him to gyrate in the air. "Now knock it out of the sky!" Rocky yelled. Crash grabbed another stone and threw it at the Stunned Ralph. The rock sailed through the air like a darkened comet, headed directly towards the dazed crobat.

"Look out!" Joe yelled. But it was already too late. The Rock sailed up and hit its mark striking Ralph in the face. He fell backwards and plummeted, the weight of the rock holding him down. Even with his wings out, he couldn't slow his descent. Finally he and the boulder struck at the centre of the field, where he finally lay unconscious and defeated. The battle was over. Rocky had won.

The time passed from 4:00pm to 7:00pm. The sun had almost disappeared over the horizon by this point, leaving a small half sphere of light on the edge of the world. Joe was sitting on his own on a bench in the city park. He was feeling depressed after being thrashed by Rocky. His team had tried so hard but it turned out that they were no match for his onix. The thing had been like a tank, It was unstoppable. Now he could see why they had warned him about finding a strong grass or water type. He couldn't help but feel bad about himself, even though he knew he shouldn't be putting himself down. He was a gym leader. It was likely he would loose on his first try. Most people do. It was just how easily he had lost and how much he had believed he would win that was putting him down. Gordon hadn't bean that tough, but then again Joe had used Sting to fight him. On Pippy was weak to his type. All three of his current pokémon were weak to Rocky's.

"Hmm." He moaned and kicked a nearby stone that sat to close. It skimmed across the grass and landed in a pile on top of a small lump of out-sticking ground. The ground moved, opened up and an upset rattata's head popped out. It looked at the stone, hissed in annoyance and dug its way back underground into its hidden nest. "It's not fair." He mumbled.

"You still moping about your loss?" Winter asked. She had just come back to check on him. He had been sitting there since he'd left the pokémon centre after healing Ralph, Sting and Pippy. She had gone to buy them something to eat and had returned with a few sandwiches and bottles of water. Joe didn't seem hungry at the moment. He declined the food, graciously. "What's the problem now?" Winter asked him kindly, sitting next to him on the bench. He sighed.

"He completely destroyed my team." Joe explained. "I tried so hard but it all lead to nothing. Pippy couldn't hurt him, Ralph couldn't hurt him and Sting by that point was already pretty exhausted, so he wouldn't have been able to hurt him either. "

"Well he is a gym leader." Winter reminded him. "He's supposed to be tough to beat. Besides, you can't win every battle you have. I haven't even got one gym badge but I don't let it get me down."

"But you don't battle that much." Joe reminded her. "You said yourself you preferred traveling to battling."

"I did…" Winter agreed. "But… well… I was just… You get my point!" She said finally after struggling to explain why. "You shouldn't be heard on yourself. Ralph and the rest of your team won't be angry if they lose every now and then. That will just encourage them to do better. It should encourage you to do better, too." Ralph, who had been sitting on the opposite side of the bench the whole time, nodded in agreement. Joe smiled at them both.

Well, I'm grateful that you're both trying to cheer me up and all…" Joe told them, trying to sound happy. "It's just…" He sighed. "I just don't feel like I'm very cut out for this. Being a trainer, I mean. It's a lot tougher than I ever thought it'd be." Ralph looked at him, concerned. He tried to tell Joe that 'he just hadn't been ready to fight the gym leader' but he remembered that people can't understand Poke-language and stopped himself. "I don't feel like I'm doing very well." Winter smiled with sympathetic eyes.

"We all feel like that sometimes." She admitted. "I've been training for four years and I'm still not as strong as I wanted to be. In fact I'm nowhere near." Joe chuckled.

"Yet you still beat me with ease when we battled." He told her. She laughed too.

"Yes." She was glad to see him smiling again. "Look, don't worry about losing the battle today." Winter told him "It's quite late now, so, in the morning, if you want, I'll help you train up Ralph and the rest of your pokémon for another try at the gym. Would that help?" Joe didn't respond. Winter got up. I'll leave you to think on it." She told him. "I'm going to go and check into the hotel." She said and walked off. Ralph leaned forwards and nudged Joe with a wing. Joe smiled at him. That smile quickly faded. He sighed sadly.

"What do you think we should do, Ralph?" Joe asked. Ralph shrugged. "We need the extra work on our battle strategy, don't we? But what if I'm just not a good enough trainer." Joe asked. Ralph didn't know how to answer. He felt that he had failed him. Joe really had tried. He had really wanted to win but Ralph couldn't hurt his onix. His attacks ended up getting him hurt too. He knew Joe was trying his best he was still new to this all. Ralph gave Joe a confident nod, saying that he was prepared to work to become a better Pokémon. "Yeah." Joe said, suddenly feeling more confident and proud. "We can get better. That's all part of being a trainer, isn't it?" Ralph nodded. "So that's that, then." Joe decided and stood up proud. "We'll train up, become stronger and then we'll re-challenge the gym. That may take a long time but it is necessary to do so to become a better trainer. I don't care if it takes me ages. I will become a better trainer. We will get stronger."

"May that will be sooner than you'd think." Said a voice from the shadows. Joe turned in surprise.

"Who's there?" He asked, cautiously. A shadowed figure was standing not too far from him in the silhouette of a building. Gordon walked out from the dark, holding his hands up in a disarming manor.

"It's me." He said calmly. "I've come to talk with you."

"Why? What about?" Joe asked, cautiously. He had no real reason to be suspicious of a gym leader but the fact he had snuck up on him in the growing dark had set Joe into a defensive mind-set. Gordon bowed a hand respectfully and began to explain.

"You're battling with Rocky." He explained. "I can see how strong you are and how much effort, care and feeling into your battle, but I can also see how restrained you and your Pokémon are. You were nowhere near prepared enough for that battle. Not only that I noticed many times you used attacks which would only hurt your pokémon more. I'm not blaming you, you're a new trainer after all. I've merely come to offer you some assistance for the next time." Joe looked at him, grateful but also cautious.

"Well you could have skipped pointing out my mistakes for me." Joe told him. "I'm grateful you'd want to help me of course but are you even allowed to aid me in a gym battle. What kind of assistance are we even talking about here?" Gordon reached into his pocket and pulled out a small silvery disk with a label and a metallic colour tint to the cover.

"I have a TM I can teach you." Gordon said. "It contains a move Ralph can learn that'll help him beat Rocky's Pokémon, Crash. It will not guarantee you victory, but it will at least allow you a chance at it." Joe was intrigued but he still wasn't sure if he should take the help. Would it make him seem desperate or poor or even childish if he took help from a Gym leader?

"Can I just ask, why do you want to help me?" He asked.

"Because you have potential." Gordon replied. "You have spirit and your Pokémon clearly respect you and want to do their best, just like you do. I want to give you something that'll allow you to reach that potential and I don't feel you can reach it without this help." He took a step back. "But I cannot teach you here. I don't want people to see me helping you. It'll raise bad opinions on the both of us." He turned and walked off and indicated that they follow him. Joe looked at Ralph unsure. He gave the same expression back. Then they followed after the gym leader.

Gordon took Joe and Ralph to an old warehouse just outside of town. While it certainly wasn't clear or completely stable, it was standing still and it at least didn't feel like it would fall down at any second. Gordon opened the rotting wood doors and pulled a huge wall switch with a heavy 'Kerchunk!'. A row of weak lights running down the left and right side of the roof hardly managed to light the room. Inside the building itself sat one lone object. A small mechanical box with a CD slot and selection of buttons. Protruding from each side was a long wire with a plastic suction cup on the end, big enough to fit around anything's head, no matter how small it was. Behind the box was a chair, attached to the machine as well with metal cuffs and wires leading from them back into the machine. Joe thought it was some kind of torture machine, along the lines of an electric chair. As it turned out there was hardly any electric current going through the machine at all.

"This…" Gordon said as he walked up to the machine. "Is a Technical Machine Reading Device. Or a TMRD for short. It reads the move data on the TM disk placed in it and sends that information to the Pokémon plugged in on the other end."

"Is it safe?" Joe asked immediately. Gordon chuckled.

"It's fine. There's no danger involved with it at all. It's completely safe to plug a pokémon into it. Trust me, I've used it many times." He reassured him. "This is a full sized one but you can get miniature ones to carry around." He patted the top of the machine and it let out a weak whirring sound. "I can use this machine to teach your crobat the move Steel Wing. It's a move that was found at the same time as the steel type Pokémon and, fortunately, it's strong against Rock types. I can teach it to Ralph for free." He nodded to Ralph. "So long as you two agree." Joe looked at his friend. He was still unsure, but he felt he could trust Gordon. There wasn't anything about him that made him seem like he was up to no good. Everything about him just seemed honest and truthful. It wasn't easy to not believe him.

"Do you want to do this?" Joe asked his crobat friend. Ralph looked at him for a couple of seconds. He nodded gravely. The fact was he wouldn't be able to beat Rocky's onix, not without some help. This might be the only way they have of defeating their first gym leader. Joe sighed. "We're in." He told him. Gordon nodded with respect.

"Ok then." He said. "If Ralph could come over here we'll get him plugged up. The machine was set up in no time. After ten seconds of death toning buzzing it whirred up into action and began to rumble with power. Ralph was sat down onto the chair, his wings strapped in so he wouldn't strike out at any point during the process, and plugged into the device. He looked nervous and slightly tense but he didn't back out. He knew this would be important to both him and his friend. He wanted to become stronger, for himself and for Joe.

"Will it take long?" Joe asked. Gordon shook his head as he stuck the last plastic cup to Ralph's left lobe.

"Hardly a minute." Gordon told him. "Okay, here we go." He pushed the grey disk into the slot and pressed a small blue button on the machine. As soon as the button was pressed the machine began to whir and buzz louder. Electricity pulsed down the wires, up to the plastic cups and into Ralph's. He winced and shut his eyes. Information flooded into his brain. Information on how to use this one specific move. On how to make his body adaptable to use it. Joe struggle to tell if he was thinking deeply or in serious concentrated pain. He wanted to pull him out and hug him and apologise for hurting him, but he resisted, telling himself that Ralph was in no danger. Just to be on the safe side he crossed his fingers for luck. This went on for half a minute, and then the machine began to slow until it finally stopped completely. The disk came back out of the machine, cracked all the way across and rendered never usable again.

"It's done" Gordon said. He walked up to Ralph and took the wires of his head. Ralph flinched with his touch.

"Ralph?" Joe said, concerned. "Are you ok?" Ralph groaned, his mind shut and his eyes shutter. Then they opened and he smiled. Now he had an advantage on his side. He knew how to turn his wings into steel.

The next day Joe went back to the Pokémon Gym, eager to re-challenge Rocky and earn his first badge. Rocky was waiting for them, the board had already been lowered and the field was already set. Gordon was standing to the side, watching interestedly for what the outcome would be.

"So, you come to re-challenge me." Rocky said in an almost monotone yet mildly surprised voice. "I must admit you surprise me. You don't discourage easily."

"My team is stronger than last time." Joe told him. "Don't expect another easy fight."

"Don't worry." Rocky told him. "I'm not. In fact I wish it not to be." The battle began, Ralph on Joe's side, Crash on Rocky's.

"Crash, use tackle!" Rocky commanded. Crash charged at Ralph, head lowered. Ralph simply swooped out of the way, leaving Crash to crash into the large rock that Ralph had been floating in front of.

"Steel Wing!" Joe instructed. "Aim for the head!" Ralph dived in while Crash was recovering and held his right front wing out solid. It glistened like polished metal in the light. The wing slashed across Crash's face and knocked him aside as Ralph flew past. Crash's health bar dropped dramatically, almost by 1 half. Rocky gasped in sudden serious surprise.

"What?" He cried. "Where did you learn that move?" Joe didn't respond. Instead his continued to watch the battle. A small cheeky smile stitched across his face.

"Again!" Joe called. Ralph came back around for another hit, this time striking Crash on the back. Its health bar almost dropped completely this time, leaving one small notch in the line. "One last time!" Joe commanded. Ralph turned and dived, wings spread and flying like a steely silver X.

"Crash, stop it with rock tomb!" Rocky shouted. Crash smashed his tail on the floor repeatedly and several rocks which had been wedged into the roof fell from above surrounding Ralph in a large wall of Rock. Before Ralph could evade they encircled him in stone, stopping him from moving forwards, backwards, left or right. One lucky rock struck him on the head. Ralph's eyes rolled dizzy and he dropped out of the air, landing flatly on the floor. "Now squash him!" Rocky called. Joe clenched his fists in tension, willing Ralph to move before he could be defeated again.

"Come on, Ralph. Move! Move!" The heavy stone geode tail lashed up, stood like a boulder tower and dropped down with speed. It plummeted down towards the back of the collapsed purple bat. Rocky anticipated for victory. Then, with a sudden flash of purple and a surprised gasp from everyone watching, including the small audience of gym trainers, Ralph was gone. The tail slammed down into the ground, smashing the floor up and causing a wave of mud and rock to fly out… but Ralph wasn't there. He had seen the attack coming and had, somehow, managed to roll to the right, shoot up into the sky, avoid the swinging tail and was now floating like a purple star above Crash's head, waiting for the moment to strike. All eyes in the room looked up and saw him finally as every brain in the room suddenly realised what had just happened.

"Good work Ralph!" Joe cheered. "Now finish him!" Ralph dived with his wings outstretched. His large wings glistened with a metal overcoat.

"Bind!" Rocky called, desperately nervous now. Crash flexed his body and curled up into a coil, avoiding Ralph's attack completely. His wings slashed at open air and did nothing at all. Before Ralph could attack again the foe onix lashed his tail up, kicked him from the sky again and gripped him in a vice spiral. Ralph struggled to get free but Crash held on tight, his rock body hardening up and freezing solid as he crushed the life from his prey.

"No!" Joe exclaimed. It looked like it was over again. There was no way Ralph would be able to escape now. Rocky smiled, almost maliciously.

"Looks like its game over again." He said. Ralph grunted as he struggled to push his way out, but this proved to be ineffective in any way. He was left with only one possibility for escape. He pulled his head back, opened his mouth wide and bit into Crash's tail. To everyone's surprise, he let out a yell of pain and loosened his grip. Ralph shot from out of his coil, flew high into the sky like a dark bullet stopped in front of Crash's face and stared him straight into the eye. Ralph growled, the fire of furious anger and energy flowing through his body. He pulled his wing back, it glistened with steel, and he slashed it forwards. The tip scraped across the large stone snakes face, knocking him to the left. The force was so powerful it made the large rock beast sway and tilted as it fell. It crashed to the ground with an exhausted thump, but this time it didn't get back up. Joe cheered with Joy. Ralph relaxed and did several summersaults to show off with excitement. Rocky looked shaken. He stayed looking like that for a while after a few seconds of stunned amazement he let out a disappointed sigh.

"You won." He admitted, trying to sound courteous about it, though it was obvious he was upset. "Congratulations. You've earned your first gym badge. I present you with the boulder badge." He put his hand in his pocket and pulled out a small square metal badge. It was shaped like a cut stone with a crack in it and mud sporting from that crack. "In commemoration of you beating this gym." Joe held out his hand and took the badge from Rocky.

"Thank you." He said. He felt amazed. He truly felt like a worthwhile trainer now. He tried to remember not to let the feeling get the better of him.

"And take this as well" Rocky added and handed Joe a TM. Unlike the one for Steel Wing which was grey, this one was brown. "That TM contains the move Rock Tomb." Joe turned to leave. He waved at Winter and pointed at his new badge, wording the sentence 'I did it! I freaking did it!'

"Uh, but before you go, I'd like to ask one thing." Rocky added. Joe stopped, mid high-five with Ralph, and turned back to the older gym leader. "Where did you learn that move?" He asked, walking over to him. "No member of the zubat family ever learns that move naturally." He reasoned. "And there's no way you found a TM that would teach him it around here." He stopped, standing face to face with the boy who had just beaten him. "So, who taught you it?" He asked.

"I did" Said a voice from the sides. It was Gordon. Rocky had completely forgotten that his brother had even been there. He was walking over to the two of them "I thought our friend here could use some help. He didn't stand a fair chance without it." Rocky looked at his brother, clearly unimpressed with his actions.

"You know Gym leaders aren't supposed to give other trainers help in these battles." He reminded him. Gordon nodded, clearly show that he did remember it but had rather decided to ignore it.

"I know, of course." He admitted. "It's an obvious rule. But I felt that he deserved a stronger chance. Besides, even with that move you still nearly beat him. It was his skill that truly pulled him through, so my aid was not, in many respects, cheating." He stopped and looked more cautious and quiet now. "And, if I can be truthful with you for a second…" He said, grabbing Rocky's arm and pulling him away from Joe and Ralph. "You were never really a gym leader." Gordon Whispered. "Not in your heart." Rocky turned his head slowly to look at him, confused.

"Why is that important right now?" He asked.

"Well, because of your attitude to the job." Gordon explained. "Standing around in a battling building, that's not really what you enjoy, is it. You've always wanted to travel. Even I can see that. Remember, I had to watch you growing up, you being my elder brother and all. I always had to watch the other boys bully you because you're a bit… different." His eyes shifted a little. "So I think that it's time you left this place. Pewter City was never really for you. Besides, being a Gym leader is more of my kind of thing anyway." Rocky looked confused.

"What are you saying?" He asked.

"I'm saying you should get out and do something. Get out there and travel the region. Catch some pokémon. Make friends. Make a name for yourself. Do something you want to do. Don't feel that just because you're my brother and because you're a Stone that means you have to stay here all your life. You should go now before all open paths to you close." Gordon told him. "You said to me once you always wanted to grow and raise pokémon, so go do that. Build a team, breed Pokémon, help out orphan, do whatever you want. And when you're all done come back and see and tell me about the whole thing." Rocky looked totally befuddled. He had no idea what to say to his brother. He didn't even know if leaving home was what he wanted. Gordon turned back around to the waiting Joe and now waiting Winter. She had joined Joe from the stands and was waiting with him for whatever Rocky and Gordon had to say to them next.

"Gordon…" Rocky muttered just as Gordon was about to speak. He turned back to his older brother.

"What?" He asked quietly.

"I'm… I'm nervous." Rocky admitted, twisting his hands in his lap. Gordon sighed.

"Well, you'll never get over it if you don't try it." He told him. Then he turned back to Joe and Winter and Ralph and smiled. "Right. You, uh… three." He said. "I have a proposition for you." He walked back over to them. "My brother and I both feel that your skills as a trainer have truly shone here today. And, as a friendly gesture, Rocky here wishes to join you on your travels, so that he can learn a bit more about the job as he goes." Winter, Joe and Ralph looked at each other.

"He's a gym leader." Winter noted. "He should already know that stuff, shouldn't he?

"He's not a… professional gym leader." Gordon explained. "I'm the one of us who goes to all the meetings and deals with all the trainer battles, gym trainees and badge handouts. He's more of a gym leader in training. It's not really his thing. I want him to spend a bit of time with you guys. Just so he can find a place in the world for himself." After taking in all this information, the trio seemed to nod in unison.

"That sounds like a great Idea." Winter said.

"I guess he could travel with us for a while." Joe added. "He can battle and therefor defend himself, and if he helps with training, camp building, traveling and has fun, then sure, he can join us." Gordon smiled.

"Alright then." He said. "I'll stay as the only gym leader here. I'll obviously make a couple of changes, turning the gym into a ground type only gym. If you lot are ok with Rocky joining you then I'll let you get back to your travels."

"Fine with me." Joe said.

"Me, too" winter added.

"I'm fine with this." Rocky said, joining his brother again but standing a bit further back, looking a little nervous but still trying to stand tall.

"Good." Gordon finished. "It'd probably be best for you three to head off now." He added. "Come back and visit whenever you like."

And thus the Trio walked off into the horizon, headed now for Mt Moon, The quickest way to reach Celadon City and the second Gym. Unknown to the trio a shadow watched them from a distance. He had been following the group for a long time since he'd run into them in Viridian town before Team Rockets raid on the Pokémon centre. Two dark brown eyes watched them from outside a deep black hood. Satisfied that he knew enough the figure took a step back into the shadows and jumped, grabbing onto something as he did so. A golbat carried him away over the land and mountain towards his base where he planned to give his master all the information he had gathered.


	6. Chapter 6: Rockets in Mt Moon

The trio reached the pathway out of town that lead to Mt Moon. They were ready to move on. Joe was traveling to fight the next gym, Winter was traveling so she could meet a friend in Cerulean, the next town, and Rocky was traveling just so he could study Pokémon.

"Here we are again." Winter said. "Staring down a road into the future. Not knowing what may come. Traveling to learn and learning to grow. Though things may not always work out we know in our hearts that we shall always do our best to be our best." She turned to see three stunned faces.

"I didn't know you were a philosopher." Joe said, jokingly. She blushed, embarrassedly.

"Occasionally" she told him.

"How far away is Cerulean City?" Rocky asked.

"Hold on a sec." Joe said. "I have a map in my bag." Joe began rummaging in his bag for the map his uncle had pack when he left home with ralph less than a week ago.

"About 10 Miles" Winter answered. Joe looked at her again.

"How on earth do you know that?" Joe asked as he pulled out the map and read it.

"Lucky guess?" She said, sheepishly.

"Only problem is we have to pass through Mount Moon to get there from this way." Rocky told them as he looked at the map.

"He's got a point." Winter added.

"So" Joe said. "It won't be so tough. It's only an extra Mile or so."

"Hey there. You three." A voice said from behind them. A man in a white lab coat and spectacles was running towards them, a large box held in his hands. One of Professor Oak's Aids. He stopped in front of the trio.

"Are any of you named Joe Glende, by any chance?" He asked them in a geeky, nasal voice.

"I am" Joe said and walked forwards. The Aid handed him the box. The box was very heavy and made of a simple tough cardboard.

"I was sent by your Uncle, Walker Glende, to deliver this parcel to you." He said. "He didn't say what's inside but I expect it's probably personal. There's also a letter to go with it" he put the letter on top of the box. And with that the Aid walked away, back to Pallet town.

"That was quick." Winter said.

"My uncle sent me something? I wonder what's inside?" Joe pondered. He put the box down for a second and read the letter aloud. It said…

"Dear Joe

I recently heard of your success in beating the Pewter City Gym and I just wanted to tell you how proud I am of you I am. It feels like yesterday you were deciding on your first Pokémon but that was only 3 days ago. I still remember the day you first arrived at my house. I am also proud of how much you've grown in skill. I heard about your team. Catching a Pikachu can be very tough but training a Weedle all the way to becoming a Beedrill so soon isn't in any way easy.

Anyway, as you know I don't only grow crops on the farm, I also breed Pokémon for Trainers, pets and Rich family's. But specifically I breed the three starters of this region, Squirtle, Charmander and Bulbasaur for Professor Oak who gives them to new trainers. Your friend, Tom's Squirtle was bred by me. I just spoke with Professor Oak and we came to a decision to send you another Pokémon. Inside you will find a small friend."

Joe looked down at the box bellow him. It shook a little and there was a muffled noise coming from inside. It sounded like something faintly crying 'Baa… Bulbaa…'

"I wonder what Pokémon he sent me" he though aloud. Joe bent down and lifted up the box lid. A tiny little light turquoise Pokémon looked up at him. A large bulb grew out of its back. It sat on its four small fat legs and smiled up at Joe.

"Bulba" it said happily in Poke-speech.

"A Bulbasaur." Said Winter. "Does he have a name?" Joe read the letter again.

"If you have just opened the box you should know what Pokémon will be joining you. His name is Pitt and he's Flower's grandson. Treat him well as he'll prove to be very useful in the future. He's still very young however and hasn't had any experience in a fight. Take care of him and look after yourself. I'll see you soon.

You're Uncle"

"Pitt's an unusual name" Rocky said.

"My uncle gives his Pokémon unusual names" Joe told them. "He thinks it makes them more unique." Joe knelt down towards the tiny bulbasaur sitting in the box. "I was considering choosing bulbasaur as a starter." He told them. "That was before I met Ralph, however." Joe held out his hand to pet his new member. Pitt looked up at his hand and stared at it for a couple of seconds. And then he lunged forwards.

"Ouch!" Joe exclaimed as Pitt bit into his hand. Joe shook him off and Pitt sat laughing Joyfully.

"You little…" Joe exclaimed, angrily.

"That's not a nice way to treat your Trainer." Winter told it. Pitt looked at her and stuck his tongue out, mockingly.

"Very naughty nature for a bulbasaur." Rocky pointed out. Pitt replied to this by growing a couple of vines from out of the bulb on its back and nocking both Joe and Rocky around the head with one of them. Joe growled, angrily. He was fighting the urge to teach this little pest a lesson. He bent down ant took the poké ball that had been left next to it.

"Ok, in you go." He said and opened the ball. Pitt disappeared in a bunch of white beams and went back inside the ball. Joe then clipped it away on his belt. "I'm grateful that my Uncle sent me one of his own Pokémon and all…" he started. "But couldn't he send me one that doesn't get a kick out of attacking its trainer?"

"It'll grow on you." Winter told him. Joe gave her an expression that said 'Ha ha. You're so very funny'.

"No pun intended" Winter said quickly, seeing his expression.

"We should head on" Rocky interrupted. "If we want to get to Cerulean city."

"Let's go then." Joe said. The trio set of on the road again, Ralph following closely.

Soon they came to the cave entrance of Mount Moon, just outside of the pathway and a large field of tall grass. The inside of the cave was incredibly dark. The trio couldn't see anything inside the cave, whatsoever.

"It sure is dark in there." Winter said.

"Anyone got a torch?" Joe asked.

"I have a couple." Rocky told them, "give me a second." He dug through his bag and pulled out two flashlights and a head torch. "Here we are." He announced and handed Joe and Winter the two flashlights. They switched on the lights and looked inside. The cave was small and narrow on the inside and from what they could see it got narrower as it went on.

"Well, we're not going to get anywhere standing here." Joe announced. "Let's get going. Ralph, lead the way. Ralph nodded and flew through the entrance, Joe behind him followed by Rocky and Winter at the very back.

"I'm not too keen on the dark!" she told them, shaking slightly. Her foot stood in something moist and quick and she let out a terrified scream. She pointed the light on it but saw that she's only stepped in a small puddle of water. She sighed and saw the other three looking at her, annoyed. "Sorry." She smiled, embarrassedly. The team kept on walking.

Not too far away, unknown to Joe and the others, Team Ace had come up with a plan to catch stronger Pokémon. Only a couple of feet away from them, just around the corner, was a sleeping horde of machop.

"Ok, this is the plan." Ruby said as the trio huddled together. "Frank here scares those machop over there into a frenzy which will drive them towards the large net over there. While they're caught in the net me and Ross catch as many as we can to add to our team." The trio moved out. "Alright boys!" she said. "Let's get this plan moving!"

Frank transformed into a slightly darker skinned machop and strolled into the middle of the group.

"Wakey wakey you lazy lot!" he shouted at the top of his voice. The startled machop looked around to see a slightly different looking machop standing at the centre of the group shouting and stamping his feet on the ground. "You lot are so useless I wouldn't hire you to pick up garbage" Frank shouted, abusively. The machops growled in anger at him, clenching their fists. Seeing that he had their attention, Frank continued "In fact you are so useless I wouldn't ask you to just stand around in case you forgot!" this made the machop go crazy. They let out challenging yells and smashed their fists on the ground and floor. The cave shook and several stalactites fell from the ceiling and landed in various locations. One hit a machop on the head and nocked it out, another two almost his Frank who was lucky enough to dodge out of their way. And then suddenly the machops charged him. "Know what do I do?" Frank asked, suddenly realising how stupid this move was.

"Run you idiot!" Ruby whispered. Frank ran as fast as he could in the opposite direction of the net. "Not that way!" Ruby shouted after him. Too late. The machop were already chasing him down the tunnel he ran through. Unknown to Frank, Joe and his friends were heading up that exact same tunnel at that exact same time.

Ralph was leading the group forward quite confidently, then he heard something storming towards them in the distance. His ears pricked up and he squinted to see what was coming.  
"What is it, Ralph?" Joe asked. "What's wrong?"

"Listen." Rocky said, holding his finger to his lips. "Do you hear that?" he asked. The trio held their hands against their ears, trying to hear what Ralph could hear. Joe could hear a mild thudding from far away in the distance, slowly getting closer and closer towards the four of them.

"Sounds like a stampede." Winter said. The ground began to shake now. In the distance there was a scream. A person scream.

"What was that?" Rocky asked.

"It sounded like…" Joe started. Before he could finish a machop, darker skinned then a normal machop was running at them at a quick pace. Behind him was an army of angry machops that were chasing after him.

"Get them away from me!" it shouted.

"Frank?" Winter questioned.

"Who's Frank?" Rocky asked.

"The sidekick for Team Ace." Joe told him. "I knew they must be doing something to annoy someone or something. They always are" Joe took out a poké ball from his belt. "We can take care of these angry machop. Go, Pitt!" he threw the ball and Pitt appeared, ready for a battle. "Pitt, use razor leaf, take them down!" Pitt just stood still. Joe looked down at him. "What are you doing, Pitt? Attack them!" Pitt shock his head defiantly. He didn't have to take orders from this trainer he didn't even know.

"We'll help out." Winter told Joe "While you try and get Pitt to behave." She released her Staryu and Rocky joined her with Crash, his Onyx. They stood in front of the charging machop, ready to defend their team. Frank ran past them, wailing like a ship fog horn. And then the Machop reached them and the fight began.

"Rock throw!" Rocky commanded.

"Water gun!" Winter ordered. Several machop were knocked back by a flying boulder and a couple more were dowsed by a jet of water.

"Come on, Pitt." Joe pleaded. "Why won't you listen to your trainer?" Pitt just turned his head from him, defiantly. "Come on. Just do one attack for me." Joe begged him. "Just one vine whip?" Pitt sighed and turned around in a fighting stance. "Ok. Good. Use vine whip!" Pitt did exactly as Joe told him. A pair of vines shot out of Pitt's bulb and smacked Joe on the cheeks. "**Not on me!**" he yelled furiously. Pitt rolled around on the floor, laughing manically. Rocky and winter battled on against the machop hoard. A pokè ball flew through the crowd and caught something inside it.

"Come on, Joe." Winter yelled, getting more stressed. "Do something to help us." Joe had had enough trying to get Pitt to behave.

"Ralph, help them out." He said, giving up. Ralph nodded solemnly and gave a huge flap of his wings. The wind wave he made knocked over all of the Pokémon in battle, even Rocky's Onix. A wave of dust was lifted into the air, shrouding the entire passage way with a heavy layer of sandy fog. The team shielded them self from the dust. When it lifted all the machops had feinted or fled in a mad panic. Near the centre of the unconscious pile was a closed pokè ball someone had thrown during the battle. Rocky ran forward and scooped the ball up in his hand.

"Gotcha." He exclaimed. "Caught myself a machop."

"Nice." Said Winter. "Given it a nickname?"

"I'm going to call him Chopper." Rocky told her.

"That's all well and good…" Joe said, sarcastically. "…But can you guy's give me a hand controlling my damn Pokémon" poor Joe was trying to get Pitt back into his pokè ball, but every time he tried Pitt would just bat the ball back at him with his vines while shaking his head defiantly.

"Maybe he just needs to be shown some companionship?" Winter pondered. Joe looked over to her sarcastically. Finally Joe succeeded in getting Pitt to go inside his pokè ball and the trio were able to continue again, making sure not to step on the unconscious machop they lay snoring on the floor.

Frank meanwhile was still 'Running the hell out of there!' until he came to the cave entrance and skidded to a halt. He turned and saw he wasn't being followed anymore and sighed in relieve. He wiped the sweat from his head.

"Looks like I gave them the slip." He said, proudly. "Well my work here is done. He turned around, head high, and started walking away until he bumped into someone's leg and fell flat on his back. As he looked up again he saw several men in black uniforms with red R's on the chest carrying nets and small square metal cages. Frank looked up in shock, unable to move. One of the Rocket Grunts took his net and swiped it down towards Frank, picking him up in the net and hung him in the air.

"Put me down!" Frank Complained, shaking and thrashing in the net, trying to get out. A second Rocket grunt opened a cage and the first Rocket grunt flung Frank inside. They then continued inside the cave, carrying the angry, shouting, caged Frank with them.

Meanwhile Joe, Winter, Rocky and Ralph had continued deeper into the mountain. If their map was correct then there were around half way through already. It was starting to get late, however as Joe's Pokétch now red 9:34pm. Soon they came to a small cave that led around a small corner from the path. The cave was sealed off naturally and wasn't very deep but hid the team from anyone else who should pass by. They decided to stop and set up camp for the night there. The cave was bathed in shallow moon light coming in through the many open holes in the ceiling. They placed there bags down and began building up a small fire out of small logs they brought with them in Rocky's bag. Soon they had a fire blazing in the centre of the camp thanks to the help of Rocky's new Machop.

"How far left to go?" Joe wondered.

"Only about 1 or two miles of walking" Rocky told him. "Then we'll be outside again and looking out towards Cerulean City." He pulled his bag close up and pulled out a small jar containing various berries of different shapes and colours. Some were blue while others were red and yellow. Some were round, some were square and some weren't even shapes that could be named. Unsealing the lid, Rocky pulled out a small blue, circular berry from the bunch and held it in his hand. "Oran berry." He said, noticing Joe watching him. "Good for healing up Pokémon. It's also good for using as a treat and filling hunger." He passed the berry to Chopper who snatched it and gobbled it up in a second.

"How did you get hold of so many?" Joe asked him. Rocky smiled back.

"Me and my brother grow them in our garden." He told him. We have quite a large collection, actually. We sell them every now and then to the stores for making their potions." He took out another berry – this one being yellow with small green spots on it- and handed it to Joe in his palm. "Take it." He said. "Give it to Ralph. Watch out, however. It's bitter." Joe took the berry and held it in his palm. He then held it out to Ralph who had folded his wings up and lay next to Joe. He looked at it cautiously, then gripped it in his mouth and crushed it between his teeth and gulped it down. Within a second of biting into the berry Ralphs face contorted ambivalently. He clearly wasn't sure whether he liked the berry or wanted to spit it back out again. Joe, Rocky and Winter all laughed. Ralph looked at them, displeased but not angry. He clearly didn't find it very funny.

Within no time the group were soon sound asleep. Not all of them were at piece, however. Many thoughts clouded within Joe's mind at this time. These thoughts pilled upon each other till they became an image, and then a dream. In this dream Joe was standing upon the hill outside Suroway farm, his home. It was an hour from dawn and as Joe looked around he could see that he was reliving the day he and Ralph first met, however everything else –apart from he - was completely motionless. Not one sign of movement. Not one intake or outtake of breath. Joe was looking over the scene from the side. On his right were the 6 Beedrill, arms in a guarding position. To his left was Ralph, wings out protectively, looking back behind him like he had done when he was protecting Joe. Joe however wasn't behind him anymore. He followed Ralphs gaze into the wood and noticed that something else was standing in the distance, just outside the tree line, cloaked in shadow. Joe looked at him but couldn't make out who it was. The figure was moving closer, towards him. Joe felt a cold shiver spread down his spine. He started to back away slowly, fighting the urge to run. Everything about this dream was so weird. Then suddenly a deep, strong voice came from nowhere.

"Do not run." It said. The figure in the dark had almost reached him now. It stopped only a couple of feet away from him. Even though the moon was covering the entirety of the figure Joe still couldn't make out his details. He then spoke again. "I wish only to talk with you, Joe." Joe gasped.

"How do you know who I am?" he asked. The man looked away, dodging his question.

"Do you care for this creature?" he asked, gesturing a pale hand towards Ralph. Joe looked at him cautious and confused.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"Do you care for him?!" the man asked again, more firmly and louder than before. Joe stood quiet for a second.

"Yes, I guess." He said finally.

"Then… let him go." The man continued.

"Who are you?" Joe asked, slightly confused, slightly afraid. There was a glistening of white in the darkness. Was the man smiling?

"You will find out soon enough." He told him. And with that he turned and walked back into the night, disappearing completely. Darkness consumed the scene, turning everything invisible till nothing could be seen, not even the light of the rising sun.

Joe sat bolt upright. He was drenched in cold sweat and shaking violently. Early morning light now filled the cave from above. He checked his Pokétch. It was 7:29 and dawn had long since passed. He rubbed his eyes and as his eyes got used to the light he noticed that something wasn't right. Where was Winter and Rocky? Where were there bags and camping equipment? And most of all, Where was Ralph? He stood up, shaking some dust of his jacket and trousers. There was a sudden loud scream from somewhere down the cave. Joe spun around, surprised and alarmed. Someone was screaming for help. Without thinking he swung on his bag, grabbed a pokè ball from his belt and ran out, towards the screaming.

Joe ran down the dark stone passage way, prepared to battle if it became necessary. He soon came upon a large open cavern further into the mountain. He ran inside and saw immediately what was happening. Around seven to eight men, dressed in black suits with red R's – exactly like the two criminals he's run into at the Pokémon centre – were busy hunting down and catching a large bunch of Clefairy that lived within the cavern. The Rocket grunts were swinging nets, scooping up a large number of Clefairy in one go and flinging them into large yet cramped metal cages. Another two men were busy tying up two other people, about the same age as Joe. One male, one female. Joe starred in horror as he quickly realised that it was Winter and Rocky that were being tied up. Nearby another grunt was trying to grab Ralph but he was too quick for him, desperately biting at him and lashing out with his wings. A second grunt snuck up behind him, holding a medicine needle in one hand, full of weird blue liquid. Before Ralph had time to react the grunt had already stuck the needle into the back of Ralph's neck and he's started to fall drowsy. The first grunt had pulled out a large section of rope and was now tying his wings up so he couldn't fight back when he woke just as Ralph's eyes clamped shut and he began to snore. Joe clenched his teeth and let out an angry, animal like, rage filled growl. He clenched the pokè ball in his hand.

"Enough Pokémon kidnapping!" he yelled. "Go, my Pokémon!" he flung his arm forward and let it fly. Pitt appeared in its place on the ground. All the noise had attracted the attention of every grunt in the area. They swarmed forward, readying rope and pokè balls to fight off this furious teen with the puny bulbasaur. Pitt took one look at the many black clothed men standing above him, turned on his tiny, stumpy legs and dashed off in the opposite direction, slipping into a small tunnel where a large family of Sandshrews where hiding. Joe looked back in utter disbelief.

"Pitt?" He yelled. "Come back here!" he turned back round to face the rocket grunts who were now moving forward, toward him, surrounding him. Joe reached for a ball but was stopped by a strong hand gripping his arm and lifting it up, far away from his belt and pokè balls. Joe turned to look at who was holding him. Standing to his right was a tall, well dressed, important looking, Asian man with long thin arms, sunken eyes and almost no hair hiding underneath a flat, white hat with a large C on the front. He also wore a white Rocket suit, indicating he was higher in rank then the normal grunts. He was clearly in charge of this team of Rockets. The man looked deeply into Joe's eyes, studying him.

"Well well. What do we have here?" he pondered, sinisterly in a low, tough, British accent. "Another little rat messing around where he shouldn't be." He looked around the seven grunts who encircled their leader. "Do you have any idea who you're messing with?" he asked. Joe looked him up and down.

"I can make several guesses." He said, scornfully. The Rocket leader slapped him across the side of the face with the back of his hand. Joe winced, a small tear leaking from the side of his eye. A red mark was now growing across his right side.

"I am Commander Cheng!" The commander told him, strongly. "One of the three Team Rocket Commanders. And you are interrupting a vital collection mission. I have already heard of your meddling with another of our heists and I will not tolerate it!" he let go of Joe's wrist only for another two grunts to grab him again. Commander Cheng waved an arm above his head. "Put him with the other two." He commanded. Joe looked around desperately… then something struck him on the back of the head and everything went black.

A while later Joe awoke. He tried to stand but found his arms had been tied to his sides. As he looked around he saw that he was leaning against Winters back while Rocky lay against the wall a bit further away. Ralph meanwhile was still unconscious and lying against Joe's feet.

"You're finally awake, then?" winter asked. Joe looked down to see rope binds tying up his legs and arms. He struggled, trying to break loose from his binds but found the knots where much tighter then they looked.

"There's no point trying to struggle free" Rocky told him, noticing his struggles. "We've already tried that." Joe gave up and lay back, knocking Winter forwards, lightly.

"I don't suppose either of you have come up with a plan to get us out of this?" he asked, hopefully. Winter tried to turn to face him but remembered quickly about her binds.

"If we had do you think we'd still be tied up?" She asked him, sarcastically.

"Well, when you put it like that." Joe continued.

"Don't you two start arguing" Rocky interrupted. "We need to stay calm and find a way to escape." They fell silent for a while, trying to figure out how they may be able to break free of the ropes tying them up. The Joe spoke again.

"Uh... hey, Winter?" He asked

"What?" she asked.

"I never did apologise about crashing into you when we first met, did I?"

"This is hardly the time, you know." She interrupted.

"I Know." Joe continued. "But it just felt like I needed to bring it up."

"No, I don't think you did." She answered quickly.

"Well, I guess I apologise." He said, rather embarrassedly.

"Apology accepted" She told him. They sat in silence for a couple more seconds. Meanwhile the Rocket grunts were busy locking up another load of caught clefairys they'd captured into small cramped metal cages that crushed them together and against the bars. Joe could hear their poor, uncomfortable, distraught wails. He clenched his fists.

"If I were free from these ropes I'd give these idiots a piece of my mind" Rocky said aloud.

"How can they do this?" Winter asked emotionally. "Causing so much pain to such peaceful and carefree creatures? Do they feel no emotion? Are they not human?""

"I just wish that my own Pokémon hadn't run off on me." Joe said self-pitifully to himself. "If I can't even get a Pokémon I've just met to listen to me then what does that make me as a trainer?" he asked, turning to Winter. She just looked back at him.

"I don't know." She said, truthfully. "I wouldn't blame you, however. Pitt's clearly of a naught nature."

"I don't know." Joe said sadly. "I just tried to be a good trainer and I feel as though I've failed"

Only a couple of metres away to the right Pitt was watching them, feeling rather guilty about leaving them to be captured. He turned to face the small group of sandshrew that lived in the tunnel he'd hidden in. The one in front gestured to him, indicating he should go with them. The group then turned and started to walk back down the tunnel. Pitt stood his ground. He grabbed the head sandshrew on the shoulder with one vine – who turned back round to look at him – and shook his head confidently. The sandshrew stopped the others and walked up to Pitt, wandering what he was planning. They stood around him in a circle as Pitt began to draw his plan on the dusty floor.

A couple of minutes later Ralph woke up. He took one look at the rope around his wings and mouth and immediately started struggling and trying to bite apart the ropes.

"There's no point trying that." Joe told him, sadly. Ralph ignored him and continued gnashing and thrashing about. Joe decided it probably wasn't best to try and stop him, Ralph clearly wasn't happy. He turned to look at Winter. She seemed to be staring directly at him… No... behind him.

"That looks like Pitt" She said, confused. Joe turned. Sure enough, crawling along the far wall, staying in the shadows and sneaking past any passing Rocket grunts, getting slowly closer and closer to the trio, was Pitt the young Bulbasaur.

"That's is Pitt" he agreed. "That's him all right. But how on earth did he escape Team Rocket?"

Pitt continued to sneak his way across, through the shadows of the cave, till he reached them. He yapped, heroically and, withdrawing a vine, slashed off Joe's binds with one swipe. Joe rubbed his hands, free of the painful grip from the rope.

"Thank you." He told his little friend. "Why did you come back?" Pitt looked up at him with his large, adorable eyes. He meant no harm from his jokes. He didn't hate Joe, he didn't even dislike him. It was just his way of making friends. Although he did feel ashamed about leaving him to get captured. Pitt turned and broke away Ralph's bonds. Ralph shot up into the air within seconds and gripped onto a stalactite with his two small feet. Joe proceeded to untie Winter, then Rocky. The group hunched hidden in the shadows, trying to think up a plan to escape.

"Right." Joe started. "We need to fight them while we still can…" Joe started, but Pitt just held out a vine to stop him. He and the sandshrew had made up a plan. It was only a matter of time till they took action.

The Rockets were busy moving the cadged Clefairys into several large piles. Their Leader, Commander Cheng, was very busy shouting instructions at the top of his lungs.

"Get those cages moved!" he yelled so loud that the entire cave shook slightly. "Don't pet them! They bite" he yelled again, less loud, at a grunt who had just stuck his hand into one cage to annoy a Clefairy. The room shook again. However this time it continued to shake. The commander looked around in confusion. The cave began to shake even more. Now all the grunts had noticed it. Joe and the others had noticed it, too. Pitt looked smug. He knew what was going on. The Commander looked down at the ground. To his horror he saw a large crack starting to break its way through the floor. He quickly stepped aside as a small yellow sandshrew burst out of the ground and high into the air. As it came down it lashed out at him, leaving a large scar across the left side of the commander's face. He winced angrily and saw another sandshrew burst out of the ground only a couple of metres away. Then another one, and another. Soon they were popping up all around the Rockets, encircling them in the cracked ground.

"Weird." The commander thought. "The cracks almost make a circular shape. Almost as if…" he stopped as he suddenly realised the dreadful truth. The ground began to rumble again, this time a lot worse than before. Without even thinking Commander Cheng jumped aside just as the ground collapsed beneath him. The entire circle which the Sandshrew had dug had collapsed into a shallow pit, deep enough to keep anyone who fell in trapped. Every one of the Rocket Grunts had fallen in and were now laying dazed and confused on the dusty floor. Commander Cheng hung onto the side, trying to keep a hold. Joe, Winter, Rocky and Ralph looked on amazed, mouths open in total shock. Pitt was laughing manically, rolling around on the floor. The group walked over to the edge of the pit. The Commander hung bellow them. He looked up at the group, furious.

"Who the hell are you?" he asked.

"They call me Joe." Joe said, heroically and mockingly. "And I **don't** approve of your criminal work." And with that he brought a foot down on the Commander's hand. The Commander yelled out in pain and fell backwards into the pit. After a second he landed on top of one of his grunts and yelled in anger.

"I will not forget you!" he shouted up at them.

"Good." Winter replied. And with that the group turned around and walked off.

Soon they reached the cave exit and finally saw daylight again.

"Thank lord Arceus above!" Winter exclaimed.

"Finally we've reached Cerulean City." Joe sighed with relief. "One thing still puzzles me." He started, turning to Pitt. "What happened to the Sandshrew and Clefairy that were being captured?" Pitt just smiled and winked at him. At that moment the Sandshrew that Pitt had teamed up with were busy breaking free the poor captured Clefairy. They were also busy filling in the hole they made to bury the Team Rocket Grunts in. Of course they let them go, but not without their commander ranting and yelling a few swear words before leaving.

"Don't you think we should get moving?" Rocky asked. "The day is passing quickly and we've still got a small walk to go."  
"Good point" Joe agreed. "So what are we waiting for?"

And with that the trio continued on their journey…

A couple of seconds later Team Ace emerged from the cave, Tired, covered in dust and absolutely furious.


	7. Chapter 7: Draco-Knight and Silhouetta

"Rattata, use Hyper fang!" the trainer commanded.

"Ralph, dodge it!" Joe commanded. Ralph flew aside, dodging out the way of the charging Rattata. "Now, use Steel Wing!" Ralph swung in, wings outstretched, shining silver. Before the foe's Rattata could react Ralph struck it in the chest, knocking it backwards. The Rattata fell unconscious at the trainers feet as he exclaimed in disappoint.

"Oh no!" he drooped his hands buy his sides is disappointment.

"All right." Joe cheered. He and Ralph high-fived, Joe collected his winnings and soon the group were continuing on their way. A couple of minutes later they finally reached Cerulean city. The second Gym was right in front of them.

"Ok, if I'm planning to take on the Gym in this city, what is everyone else going to do within that time?" Joe asked. Winter, Rocky and Ralph all shrugged.

"I planned to meet up with an old friend." Winter told them. "I don't have to do that straight away, however."

"I planned to train my new Pokémon for a bit." Rocky told them. "On the other bank over the bridge."

"Cool." Joe agreed. "Right. I'll probably see you guys in about an…" He was cut off by the sound of angry shouting coming from around the corner. He turned to see all of the town's folk walking off in excitement towards the arguing.

"What's going on?" Winter wondered. A small group of elderly residents walked – or rather crawled - by. As they passed Joe was able to catch a bit of their conversation.

"Looks like those nutty kids are up to their fighting again." Said a first one"

"They'll do a lot of damage to themselves and everything around then one of these days." A second one said. They had walked too far out now for Joe to hear them talking.

"Sounds like two kids have started a fight." Joe told the others. "A pretty violent and aggressive one at that."

"Should we go stop it?" Winter asked.

"We should at least check it out" Rocky said. Joe nodded, agreeing.

"Ok then. Let's go."

They followed the crowd around the corner till they found that part of the crowd that ahead already arrived where circled around a large amount of space. Joe pushed his way through the crowd to the front, Winter and Rocky close behind. Ralph flew up above the crowd to watch the pandemonium. Joe managed to make it to the front of the crowd and was quite amazed at what he saw happening. In the centre of the large human ring, two trainers, one male and one female – only about 1 or 2 years older than him – were fighting a very angry and violent battle in very unusual costumes. The male trainer was wearing a thin, grey blue costume, similar to a knights armour with a dragon head shaped helmet and gloves that looked similar to claws. Down the chest was a long grey strip going from neck to waist and on his helmet was a small glass opal stuck to the top like a gem. The girl's clothing was completely different in every way. She wore a black skin tight suit that covered her entire body except her head with a dark blue spiky dress that covered her shoulders, back and sides like she was engulfed in a shadowy black fire. She had long black hair that fell over her shoulders like a cascade from inside a large black hood over her head, and a small black mask that covered the top half of her face, hiding her identity. On the top of her hood was a small S in night blue with a yellow outlining. There Pokémon were also very unusual. The boy had a small, sleek, snake like Pokémon with grey blue skin and a light grey underbelly and a small opal on its head, like the boy wore on his helmet. The girl on the other hand had a floating, black, ghostly Pokémon with two unattached clawed hands that floated in front of it and a huge evil grin on its face and a small wisp leading from the back. The two trainers were locked in combat, eyes fixed, never taking their gaze off of the other.

"Fight!" someone shouted from the crowd. And then another person joined in.

"Go on. Fight each other!" soon everyone was joining in the chanting.

"Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight!" over the din of the crowd Joe was able to make out another voice. A young male, slightly high pitched voice. It was the boy.

"I will not let you fight for this town." he exclaimed, talking to the girl opposing him. "You have no right."

"And who said you have more right than me?" the Girl asked him, offended but calm.

"You are too weak." The boy replied. "Dragon Types are the strongest!"

"My ghost Pokémon can defeat you easily!" She retorted.

"You wouldn't stand a chance against them!" He argued.

"Neither would you!" She argued back. The boy clenched his fists in outrage.

"Enough! Dratini, use thunder wave!" The tiny grey snake Pokémon – Dratini – Slithered forwards and shot a small bolt of static electricity at the girls Pokémon. The Pokémon however simply floated to the side and the bolt shot past it.

"Good work, Haunter." The girl said, appraisingly to her Pokémon. "Now, use shadow punch on it!" the Haunter nodded and evaporated into shadow. The Dratini looked around rather confused… then suddenly a shadow covered fist flew out of nowhere and struck Dratini on the side of the head, knocking it aside. Another hand smashed into its other side and sent it rolling over. The Haunter reappeared on its side of the field.

"Damn it!" the boy exclaimed, getting more frustrated.

"This is mad." Winter said. "How come nobody is stopping this?" A man clapping wildly pushed past her, knocking her into Ralph who looked at her rather annoyed.

"These people clearly see it as a form of entertainment." Joe told her. An elderly woman pushed past them, wearing a green robe and unusual necklaces. She made her way to the front of the crowd and waver her hands for them to stop.

"Stop, Children! Stop!" she exclaimed. "This fighting must cease. You'll destroy the town and hurt yourselves" She turned to the crowd. "You must all go home. You should know better than to spur on these events. Go on! Leave!" there was a chorus of groans and 'Boo's and 'you suck' from the younger members of the crowd as they walked away in shame. When most of the people had left the Old Woman then turned back to the two trainers. "Now, you two…" She said, seriously "You should be going home. This is a serious matter. Five fights this week alone and it's getting ridiculous. Trainer battles are allowed within the town but not in such a crowded area and not in such a violent way. You should go home and just be kids. Stop with all this 'Protecting the town' nonsense." And with that she pointed a finger away and the two trainers walked off, but not without shearing a couple of angry glances.

"This isn't over." The boy Whispered, Angrily.

"No, it isn't" The girl replied.

"Well, that was rather entertaining." Rocky announced. Joe, Winter and Ralph turned to look at him, surprised. "What?" he asked.

"You think we should ask what that was all about." Winter thought.

"We could try." Joe agreed. "Let's ask that officer there." He stridden over, confidently to a police officer who had stood watching the fight. "Excuse me." He asked.

"What do you need, sir?" The officer asked politely, turning to face the approaching trio.

"I just wanted to know what that fight was about." Joe told him. The Officer chuckled.

"What, those trainers? They're just a couple of kids messing around. They've been doing this act for two weeks now. It's all silly if you ask me." He leaned a bit closer. "They even gave themselves ridiculous names. The boy in the grey knight's suit is 'Draco-Knight' and the Girl is 'Silhouetta'." The officer laughed again. "They sound like superheroes from a comic book don't they." He sighed, sadly. "Shame they have to act so serious. Kids there age shouldn't be this serious about small things like what they argue about. They should just be kids. Either playing or traveling."

"What have they been doing that causes problems?" Joe asked him, slightly confused. "What I saw just looked like a normal Pokémon battle." The Officer nodded.

"Aye, that's how it always starts off." He replied. "They start off with an argument on who's protecting this town, start fighting and before you know it we have several houses on fire and Pokémon being flung around left and right, destroying everything in their heated rage." He explained. "They both want to protect this town for those awful Team Rocket lot but neither wants the other to get in their way. They see each other as a threat to their work. Something about them not being strong enough or not as skilled as the other. I don't know." The officer sighed.

"This is insane!" Winter exclaimed. "Surely they know fighting each other is creating a bigger problem?" the Officer shrugged.

"You'd think." He agreed. "You could always try explaining that to them. They live within the town."

"We could try that." Rocky said. "We've got time to kill and this looks like it's a major problem for everyone." The officer nodded and took out his note book. Scrawling something onto it, he pulled out a page and handed it to them.

"Here's the address of the boy." Joe took the paper and read it.

'No. 22, Riverside Lane, Cerulean, KT6 12NV'

"His name is Malcom Newtroy. Single child. Lives with his mother who was widowed 4 years ago. Nice lady. Not very happy but she's good to her son. I'm sure she'd help you get to him." He added. He then handed another scrawled note sheet to them. "And this is the girls address" Joe read this one, too

'Firewatcher House, Edge View Road, Cerulean, KT6 9MS'

"The girl is called Cheyenne Johns. Lived with her grandparent since she was 2. Her parents abandoned her with them and ran off without any reason. Her Grandmother is the Sage of the town and her grandfather is one of the best trainers we've ever had. They're good people and do their best for her but she's always been rebellious apparently." The officer stepped back, finished with his work. "That's all I can do to help. Good luck with your endeavours."

"Right. Thank you." Joe replied. The officer smiled and turned, walking on his own way, swinging his whistle and humming as he walked.

'Knock, Knock'. Joe tapped his knuckles against the red wooden door of No. 22, Riverside Lane. He and Rocky hadn't had much trouble finding the house as it sat just at the edge of the river going through the North of the town, creating a border between Cerulean City and Route 24. Winter and Ralph had gone to find the other trainers house while they talked with 'Draco-Knight' about disrupting the town. They stood patiently outside, waiting for someone to greet them. There was movement going on behind the door and the sound of voices. The door slowly creaked open and a Tall, blonde woman around her mid-forties stood in the doorway, looking down at them, smiling gently.

"Hello there." She said, so sweetly as if she was talking to a small child. "How can I help you?"

"Mrs Newtroy?" Joe asked. The woman beamed at him.

"That would be me." She said cheerfully. "Are you Malcom's friends? He's upstairs in his room with Dratini if you wanted to see him."

"Yes, we have come to see him." Rocky told her. "But this is about his battling in the town with the other trainers." Mrs Newtroy's smile dropped a little. She nodded, solemnly

"I've been trying to understand why he's doing it myself but he doesn't seem to want to talk about it to me." She stepped aside. "Please help sort this mess." She begged. "If not for us then for the town's sake." Joe and Rocky walked inside. The house was small but very colourful and had a lot of space. On the walls were painting of Cerulean city in different seasons and various photos of each family member, the most interesting was the one of their entire family. In it was Mrs Newtroy, a tall bearded man in a suit – Clearly Mr Newtroy – and a younger Malcom without the costume and the small grey snake Pokémon he was with in the battle, all smiling, all happy. At the back of the main hall were the stairs that lead to the second floor. Joe and Rocky went up, two steps at a time. Upstairs was only 1 room. On the door was a children's sign with various scribbled drawings with the words 'Malcom's Room' written in the centre. Joe was about to knock when on the other side of the door came a slightly high young male voice.

"Its unlocked." He said. Joe looked at Rocky who shrugged at him. He pushed on the door and it slowly swung open. The room inside was definitely that which belonged to a teenage boy. On the walls were posters of rock bands and famous Pokémon trainers, including the Elite Four. There was a cluttered work desk littered with school books and work papers and several boxes of various toys surprisingly _not_ covered in dust. Joe noticed that the helmet he'd seen Draco-Knight wearing lay on the desk at the centre atop the armour he'd been wearing.

"At least that confirm we have the right place" he thought to himself. On the other side of the room was a smaller desk with a new PC on it next to a Childs bed. At the desk, sitting on a black swivel chair, was a talk, redheaded boy working at the computer, Dratini curled up on the floor next to him. He spun around when Joe and Rocky walked in.

"Can I help you?" He asked simply. Dratini lifted its head to see the two newcomers. Joe stepped forward.

"Hello. Um…" He started. Malcom huffed, clearly unimpressed. "My name is Joe and this is Rocky" he told him, indicating to himself, then Rocky next to him. Malcom didn't see this however. He had already turned back to his computer. "We came to talk to you about these fights you're causing in the town. The ones going on with that other trainer. Silhouetta." Malcom paused. He turned back around to face them, more interested now. They had his full attention.

"What about them?" he asked, cautiously.

"Well people are a bit worried that the fighting has got a bit out of hand. They don't want you or anyone else getting hurt. So they sent us to help sort out the problem." Malcom stood up.

"The only problem here is that I'm trying to protect this city from criminals like team rocket. But I can't do that with that pestering girl trying to do the same." Joe and Rocky stood confused.

"Why can't you two work together, then?" Rocky asked. "I mean you are both trying to achieve the same goal. Why not?" Malcom simply shook his head.

"Even if I wanted to I couldn't. She's demanding all the glory and reward of such work for herself alone. Besides I know she'd rather see Team Rocket in charge round hear rather than fight them."

"How do you know that's true?" Rocky asked.

"That doesn't matter." Malcom told them. "Anyway, she's demanded we fight again right now, over on route 24. Just got an email from her. She said the battle will decide which of us shall fight for Cerulean. If I win, she goes. If she wins, I go." With that he stood up, walked up to the desk and grabbed his suit. "I don't expect you to follow and I don't want you to." He told them, slipping the suit on and zipping it up. "This is between me and her." He pulled the helmet down over his face. He pushed past the duo and walked out of the room, Dratini following close behind him.

Meanwhile Winter and Ralph had just arrived at the house Silhouetta lived at. The house was a bit bigger than the one Draco-Knight lived in but it was still relatively small compared to the large houses of Saffron City. Winter knocked on the door and waited, Ralph floating beside her, slightly annoyed. They waited for a while. No one answered. Ralph groaned, getting tired of waiting.

"What are you moaning about?" Winter asked him grumpily. "They probably didn't hear. I'll knock again." She knocked a second time. Still no reply. Ralph looked at her, disappointed. "Don't look at me that way!" she told him. "I didn't choose to have you accompany me. The other two wouldn't have been any good talking with a girl. It doesn't mean I have to like you" Ralph raised his eyebrows questioningly. Winter knocked again. This time someone replied.

"Just a minute" came an elderly female voice. Winter sighed.

"Finally someone answers" she whispered. There was the sound of a lock being unbolted, the door swung open and an elderly lady in dark green robes stood in the doorway.

"Hello." She said. "If you're looking for my husband he's away right now. Otherwise, how can I help you?"

"Are you the sage of Cerulean City?" Winter asked. The old lady nodded.

"That would be me." She told them. Winter nodded.

"I wish to talk with you about your granddaughter, Cheyenne." She told her. "And about the fights she's been getting into recently." The Sage nodded sadly.

"do come in" she told them, waving them in. Winter and Ralph walked in quickly and the Sage shut the door behind them.

"So that's why we came over." Winter finished explaining a little while later. "Why me and my friends need to speak with Cheyenne."

"I understand well." The sage replied. "I've seen the trouble she's been causing with the Newtroy boy and I don't agree with her behaviour at all. We've tried speaking with her, tried getting her to stop but recently she's been very… Unsociable. For the last 2 weeks she's refused to speak with either me or her grandfather."

"Do you know where she is now?" Winter asked.

"She should be in her room." The Sage told her. "She usually is. It will probably be locked however."

Winter took the stairs up to the second floor. Ralph followed. There were three different rooms up there, however it was obvious which the one belonging to Silhouetta was. It was the only one with the Words Silhouetta on it.

"She should be in there." The Sage told them. Winter tried the door. It was locked

"Of course it is" Winter sighed. She turned back to the sage. "Do you have a key?" She asked. The sage shook her head.

"Cheyenne has the only copy." She told them. Winter knocked on the door. No one replied. "She usually replies when you knock" the Sage said. "Maybe she's asleep. Knock again" Winter knocked on the door again. Still no reply. Not even a sound.

"Maybe she's not in there." Winter considered. She reached for the door handle in an attempt to break it open but Ralph held out a wing to stop her. He pushed Winter out on the way and stood in front of the door. "What are you doing?" she asked. Ralph didn't even look at her. He pulled back his head and stretched out all four of his wings as far as they would go. Winters eyes widened. She grabbed the Sage and pulled her aside. "He's going to break the door down!" She told him. They pressed back against the stair wall, shielding their faces from the incoming impact of Ralphs attack. Ralph pushed his wings completely back till they were pointing directly behind him. And then suddenly 'FWOOOOSH!' There was a burst of strong cold raging wind and within seconds the door was ripped from its hinges and sent flying inside the room. Winter and the Sage choked slightly on the dust as they uncovered their faces. They looked inside. On the floor of the room in several pieces was the brown oak door. Ironically the lock was still in perfect condition. Ralph was looking rather pleased at his handy work. He turned, smuggling to look at the others who clearly weren't as impressed.

"Was that really necessary?" The Sage asked him. Ralph looked deflated. She looked at him, seriously and stepped inside the room. Winter followed her, taking a disappointed look at Ralph as she did so. Cheyenne's room was exactly the opposite of what anyone who'd recently met here would have imagined it would be like. Instead of being gothic with posters of rock bands and dangerous Pokémon, everything untidy and every wall covered in black or dark blue paint and drawings, the room was in fact very bright and nice looking. The walls where a light peach pink with a white stripe at the top and bottom of each wall. The room was very clean, except for the recently destroyed door. There were several boxes full of dolls and plushies of cute Pokémon, all recently used. There were pictures of the girl, Cheyenne, herself with her family and friends scattered all over the walls and desks. She had a desk in front of one large window at the very opposite side of the room. The desk had a computer at it and on the wall next to it was a large TV with a WiiU console plugged into it and the latest copy of Smash Bros lying on top of it. On the Right side of the room was a small one person bed with a pink flowery blanket and sheets but the mattress had been removed at some point. There was only one thing missing… Cheyenne herself.

"Where is she?" Winter asked, looking around.

"I don't know." Sage told her. "She can't have left through the front door. I would have seen her." They noticed a cold wind blowing in from the other side of the room and saw the window was wide open. It was also large enough to fit an entire table through.

"What about through the window?" Winter asked. She walked over to it, treading past the bits of broken door. Ralph joined her by the window and they both looked out of it. Underneath it, laying roughly on a flowerbed was a small, white, used mattress. They looked at each other then back at the ground. It didn't take long for them to figure out what she'd done. "Well that explains how she left" Winter noted. "But where has she gone." She found her eyes were drawn to the computer in front of her. She turned it on and checked the emails on the database. One had been received recently within the last 10 minutes. She clicked open and a bunch of text opened up for her. She read it aloud. 

To: silhouetta

I Challenge you to another battle on route 24, near Bill's house. One on One. This shall be our final battle. The winner shall be named the protector of Cerulean City, the looser must surrender it and leave forever. If you accept meet me at the bridge crossing the river at 12:45 this afternoon. Any later and you will be claimed looser. May the best trainer win. (i.e. Me)

Draco-Knight

There was a reply sent as well. This appeared bellow.

To: .kto

I accept your challenge with the highest respect and disrespect. I'll be waiting for you half an hour early, just to show how much better I am then you. In the end this battle is pointless because as we both know I will win.

Silhouetta

"This doesn't seem right" Winter pointed out. "The sender's email seems so different to Cheyenne's email. Too much so." She scratched her head, pondering. "I've never heard of 'rocketmail' before. Rather suspicious" she shook her head, trying to concentrate. "No time for that. We need to stop the two of them before they do something really stupid." She told Ralph. He nodded, agreeing enthusiastically.

The two of them ran out of the house and down the road, towards the bridge. The Sage watched after them, worried. Ralph was shooting ahead while Winter was already tiring out. "Slow down" She called out. "I can't fly like you can" Ralph looked behind him and rolled his eyes. He stopped and waited for her to catch up and they continued at a jogging pace. Soon they saw Cheyenne in the distance. She was close to the end of the bridge now. Ralph and Winter quickly gained on her as she was only walking. She was wearing her Silhouetta costume but hadn't yet put her mask or hood on. She held that in her right hand.

"Cheyenne!" Winter called out. Cheyenne didn't turn around but clearly herd her. They reached her and tried standing in her way but she pushed past them. "We spoke with your grandmother." Winter told her. "We've come to try and stop you doing this." Cheyenne turned her head and looked at her. For the first time winter saw her full face.

"I saw you and your two friends earlier today." She told her. "I understand you wish to stop the fighting between me and him but you can't. This must be done for the good of the town. One of us must defend Cerulean but not both."

"Why not?" Winter asked. Cheyenne turned forwards again.

"Because that is the way it must be. It is a way of honour." And with that she slipped on her hood and mask as they reached the edge of the bridge.

The two trainers had arrived, opposing each other on the long road at route 24. Joe, Ralph, Winter and Rocky stood to the side, watching in disbelief.

"I got your email." Draco-Knight said

"And I got yours" Silhouetta replied. "Our final battle for the right to protect Cerulean City from Team Rocket"

"Yes. And the looser must leave forever?" Draco-Knight asked. Silhouetta nodded in agreement.

"This is madness!" Winter exclaimed. "You can't be this serious about such a simple thing. Surely you would do better at protecting the town if you worked together."

"It's too late for that now." Draco-Knight replied. "Even if I tried she would never agree to it."

"It's never too late." Rocky told him. "If you too just talked you could find a way."

"Talking is for the weak and feeble." Silhouetta told them. "Now, time to fight!" she pulled out her only Poke-ball and released her Haunter. Draco-Knight did the same, releasing his Dratini.

"Haunter! Shadow Ball!"

"Dratini! Flamethrower!" The two Pokémon readied their attacks. Clenching his fists, Joe and Ralph jumped in front of them. Both Dratini and Haunter stopped their attacks just in time and watched in surprise and. They stood, Back to back, reluctant to move, making a stand against all this stupidity.

"Stop!" Joe shouted. "Don't go through with this!"

"Get out of the way!" Draco-Knight demanded. "This fight must happen!"

"No it mustn't!" Joe told him. "If you too fight then this town will be split apart!"

"You don't understand" Silhouetta argued. "This is the only way. If we don't fight then we can never stop Team Rocket." Joe looked at her.

"And how do you know that?" He asked. She looked around, trying to find a good explanation for him but she found there wasn't one. "How do you plan to stop them alone, just one of you? I bet not even the best trainers could do that." The two of them stood unresponsive. Joe and Ralph relaxed a bit. He could see they were both finally beginning to see their mistake. "Surely you know that with teamwork you get a job done quicker."

"Of course we did." Draco-Knight replied. "We get taught that stuff in Kindergarten. It doesn't apply here."

"But why not?" Rocky added. "Surely this is a situation that would benefit from it." Draco-Knight and Silhouetta thought more about this, and the more they thought, the more they understood their mistakes they'd made. Joe and Ralph relaxed and moved aside again, smiling, pleased that they had sorted this situation out. Then Draco-Knight angrily pointed a finger towards Silhouetta.

"But those emails I receive!" he shouted. "You claimed that I don't stand a chance against Team Rocket. That I'm too weak in comparison to yourself and that us fighting to the end would prove who's best. There was no chance for team work." Silhouetta looked very surprised. That surprise changed quickly to anger.

"I said that? You sent me that email! Don't try and blame it on me!" Draco-Knight was looking rather confused now, too.

"No, you did send me those emails. I know I got them from you. The email was sent from your email address. 'Silhouetta .kto'" Silhouetta looked at him, very confused but also a bit worried.

"That's not my email!" she told him.

Draco-Knight looked back even more confused. "But it must be." He argued. Silhouetta shook her head, vigorously.

"It's not. The email I received was sent from ' .kto'" she told him. Draco-Knight was now looking even more worried.

"That's not your email?" she asked. He shook his head, too.

"My email is on 'Pokemail'" he told her.

"Same" she agreed.

"Well I think we've solved this dispute." Joe said. "You two have been tricked by someone into fighting each other. I have no Idea who or why but at least we know that you two can work together." He smiled and walked up to the both of them and patted them both on the shoulder. "At least we can tell that police officer that you two have stopped fighting."

"Police officer?" Silhouetta asked. "What police officer?"

"The one at the fight in the town this morning." Joe told her. She looked confused again.

"I didn't see a police officer." She told him.

"Neither did I" Draco-Knight agreed. "There are no police in this town." Joe, Winter, Rocky and Ralph all looked worriedly at each other.

"We definitely saw one" Winter told them. "Joe spoke with him. He told us to go talk with you, to try and stop you fighting. He was definitely there." The two trainers scratched their foreheads.

"That's a bit suspicious." Silhouetta said "There aren't supposed to be any arrived yet. Team Rocket haven't attacked or planned to attack yet so there would be no need for them to be called in otherwise." They all thought for a while and then they finally realised the truth.

"That police officer wasn't a police officer at all." Joe deduced finally. "He must have been a member of Team Rocket in disguise. We've all been tricked. You two and us four." They all looked slightly ashamed of that fact.

"Why would Team Rocket want us to fight?" Draco-Knight asked.

"I'd imagine it was to keep you two – the two toughest trainers in town – distracted so they could attack the town or something like that." Rocky told them "They also probably know us by now, so they probably sent us to get caught up in the mix."

"Like we have done." Joe added, realising that they had fallen for their plan completely. He sighed. "Oh dear."

The officer made his way up the hilly road on route 4. The clime was tiring but he wasn't deterred, he knew his task. At the top of the hill stood a tall, well dressed, important looking, Asian man with long thin arms, sunken eyes and almost no hair hiding underneath a flat, black hat with a large C on the front. He wore the white important clothing of a Rocket Commander

"Good work, my friend." The man said. "You have done well."

"Thank you, Commander Cheng" the Officer replied, taking off his hat and coat to reveal the overalls of a team rocket grunt. "They fell for the emails I sent them. They will be fighting for a long time, long enough for us to get our job done"

"Excellent" the commander replied. He raised one arm and shifted the eye patch that now covered his scared eye. "And what of those other trainers. The ones that stopped our work in Mount Moon."

"They've been caught up in it." the grunt replied. "They'll be sorting that out for a long time, too."

"Then we needn't wait anymore." The commander declared. "Fetch the men. We shall charge in and take all of the Pokémon the town has for our own. Hail Geovanni'!" he shouted, razing a clenched fist to the air.

"Hail Geovanni!" The grunt joined in, raising a fist as well.

10 to 20 Rocket grunts charged into the town, attacking every person in sight, trying to steal their beloved Pokémon. Their main goal seemed to be the Pokémon Centre. Meanwhile Joe and the other trainers where sprinting across Nugget Bridge as fast as they could go. They skidded to a stop when they reached the edge of town to see Team Rocket had already started their attack.

"Oh no" Silhouetta exclaimed. "We're too late. They're already attacking."

"It's not too late." Joe told them. "We can still stop them if we work together."

"He's right. If we team up they don't stand a chance against us" Rocky agreed. Both Silhouetta and Draco-Knight looked at each other, then back to the others.

"We can do this." Draco-Knight declared. "Together" Dratini nodded in agreement.

"Ok then. You two can deal with the incoming grunts attacking the rest of the town. And we'll take care of the lot heading towards the Pokémon centre." Joe instructed.

"Okay they all said" soon the battles had commenced. Dratini and Haunter where stalling all the Rocket Grunts that where arriving, using flamethrowers and shadow punches to take down their Pokémon and then send them running back up the hill. The rocket grunts they had to deal with weren't that tough as they usually had only Rattatas, Zubats, Ekans or Sandshrews and they were quite easy to beat. Joe, Winter and Rocky however where facing stronger rocket grunts. There were only three of them but they were clearly stronger then the basic grunts. One of them carried a Raticate, another carried a Golbat and the third used a Sandslash. Being the first to arrive Rocky had taken on the first of the trio, Raticate and Winter was dealing with the Sandslash, leaving Joe with Golbat. Rocky's Machop didn't have any trouble with Raticate. After several Super fangs being swatted away by Karate chops the Grunts Raticate fainted easily, not even landing a hit. In shock the Grunt ran away, back the way he came, carrying his unconscious Pokémon and wailing like a child. Sandslash, too was little trouble for Winter's Staryu. After two water guns and a rapid spin it too fell unconscious. Joe however was having a bit more trouble against the Golbat. Ralph was a lot stronger and faster but neither he nor the foe had any moves that hurt them allot.

"Wing attack!" Joe commanded.

"Bite!" the Grunt commanded. Ralph Swooped in, wings outstretched and smashed into the side of the Golbat. The Golbat however merely shook him off and lunged at him with his mouth open. Its teeth gripped down on Ralph's left wing. He yelled out in pain but managed to push him off.

"Joe, try using that move you used to beat me!" Rocky told him.

"Good idea" Joe agreed. He turned back to the fight. "Ralph, use Steel Wing!" Ralph nodded back and swooped forwards, wings outstretched and glistening like polished metal. The Grunt's Golbat lunged to bite again. This time however he bit down on solid steel wings. There was a painful 'Crunch!' and the Golbat recoiled as its teeth cracked against Ralphs now steel wings. Ralph took advantage of this and bashed it in the chest with his forehead, knocking it out of the air completely. The two Grunts that hadn't run just stood amazed.

"They've beaten us!" the first exclaimed.

"The master's not going to happy about this!" The second said.

"Not happy at all!" the first agreed. They both turned tail and ran away.

"That was actually pretty easy." Joe declared. Meanwhile Silhouetta and Draco-Knight had already defeated most of the remaining team rocket grunts. Now only four were still fighting on while the rest had run away in fear. These last grunts however where overwhelming them a bit because all four of them where taking on the two trainers at the same time, leaving 2 Pokémon against 4.

"Flamethrower!" Draco-Knight demanded. Dratini sent a plume of fire towards one of the grunts Rattatas but it simple dodged out of the way, leaving it to pass by and evaporate into nothing. Dratini became worried by this.

"Shadow Ball!" Silhouetta commanded. Haunter built up a big blob of shadow and hurled it at another grunts Raticate. The ball however simply passed through it as ghost moves have no effect on normal types. Haunter too looked worried now. But neither of them were going to give up. They kept fighting on like heroes would.

"Hypnosis!" Silhouetta commanded. Haunter caught eyes with the foes Raticate and they locked onto each other. Haunter suddenly emitted a beam of ghostly rings from its eyes which too struck Raticate's eyes. The Raticate then suddenly collapsed asleep, leaving its grunt amazed.

"Thunder Wave!" Draco-Knight commanded. Dratini Fired a small bolt of electricity at the grunts Rattata. Upon striking the Rattata it seized up and toppled over, paralysed. The Grunt who owned the Rattata exclaimed in annoyance. Only two grunts were left now. To make matters worse for them Joe and his friends arrived, poised for battle.

"Damn, too many of them now." One grunt exclaimed.

"What now?" a second asked.

"Retreat!" another bawled. The others didn't need telling twice. Before any of the trainers could react the grunts were off and half way up the hill, running in panic.

"We won." Draco-knight cheered.

"Team Rocket didn't stand a chance against us!" Silhouetta joined in.

"Yeah" Joe agreed. "But they'll probably be back at some point. That's Team Rocket for you."

Silhouetta laughed. "I think we can take care of them" she told him.

"I assume you both plan to keep protecting the town. But as a team."

"Yeah, but not in these suits anymore." Draco-Knight told them. He reached for the clips on the side of his helmet and loosened them. He slipped off the helmet and dropped it to the ground. It sat there, untouched for the rest of day. "Today I learned there are no superheroes. There are only ordinary people who stand up against people who mean to cause harm to others."

"I agree." Silhouetta joined in. "With Team Rocket's return no one in Kanto is truly safe from them. But so long as some of us try to stop them they can never truly win, no matter how bad it all gets." She pulled the hood of her mask down and lifted it off, revealing her own face again. "I'm tired of being Silhouetta" she told them. "I don't need to hide behind a mask to prove who I am."

"Well said, Silhouetta." Draco-Knight said.

"Call me Cheyenne" She replied. Draco-Knight nodded. He pointed to himself.

"Malcom" he told her. "That's my name" Cheyenne nodded, understandingly.

"I think our job here is done." Joe declared. "We'll still be in town for the next day or so." He told the two other trainers. "But after we go I still doubt Team Rocket will try meddling with the town while you two are still around." They both laughed.

"I doubt they will"

Joe, Winter, Rocky and Ralph set off again. Joe still planned to take on the gym leader but it was too late in the day for that now. They found a small hotel not too far from the centre of the town where they could stay for the night and decided to kip in there. But That night Joe was again visited by an unusual dream.


	8. Chapter 8: Mist over the water

Joe sat bolt up, drenched in cold sweat, calling out having just awoken from a deep sleep. He was sitting on a white bed in a large hotel room where he and his friends had set up for the night. Winter stirred on the bed next to him. They'd all had to sleep in the same room as none of them could afford more than 1 room for all three of them.

"What is it?" she asks, sleepily. Joe looked around subconsciously as he began to remember where he was.

"Nothing" he told her, still waking. Winter sat up properly.

"Bad dreams?" She asked. Joe nodded. It was the exact same one as last time. A shadowed man walks up to Joe. He says he wishes to talk. Joe asks how the man knows him. The man ignores his question, instead asking if Joe cares about Ralph. Joe asks what he means. The man asks again. Joe says yes. The man tells him he must let him go. Joe asks who he is. The man says Joe will find out soon. Then Joe awakes. He looked over to the hotel watch on the table beside his bed. The time was 3 in the morning.

"I'm sorry I woke you like that." He told her. "And at such an early time". Rocky was awake now and looking at the two of them from the other side of the room.

"What's going on?" he asked.

"Nothing." Joe told him "Just rough sleeping. Go back to sleep"

"Are you sure? It's not normal for you to yell out for no reason" Rocky reasoned.

"True." Joe Agreed. "I just don't want to bother any of you more." He looked around again. Someone was missing. "Where's Ralph?" he asked. As if on cue Joe's Crobat friend, Ralph swing down from the top of Joe's bed frame – While still holding on to it with his feet – and hung in front of Joe, face to face. Joe screamed in surprise. Ralph started screaming too, in surprise to Joe's screaming face. Rocky and Winter had almost fallen asleep but their two friends screaming had startled them again and they screamed out two. Ralph dropped down from the bed – Still screaming – and landed on Joe's legs, head first.

"Ralph!" Joe exclaimed, angrily, heart racing furiously. "Don't do that!" Ralph breathed in slowly to calm himself and then started to giggle slightly. The giggles turned into full on laughing. Joe was smiling, too. He felt the laughter just pouring out of him now. Soon all four of them were laughing. Ralph rolled around, his wings clenching his stomach as he laughed so hard he couldn't control it.

The next day the team woke up a bit early and set of. The time was 10:30 when they finally left the hotel. They had decided to set off early so that Joe could battle with the Gym Leader of the town and they could still gave enough time after to hopefully reach the next town before night fall. Joe had made a stop at the pokémart in order to but a couple of potions to help out in the battle and had also fully healed his Pokémon at the Pokémon Centre. Now he was ready for the battle. They stood outside the gym. The large glass door stood right in front of him.

"Me and Winter will be watching from the side-lines" Rocky told him "Good luck."

"Thanks." Joe said, appreciatively. He stepped forwards and the door slid open, allowing them to walk in. they stepped inside and gasped in awe. The entire battlefield was nothing but a large swimming pool with a couple of stands for the gym leader and opposing trainer to stand on. In the centre of the pool was a large flat area which Joe assumed was where not water or flying type Pokémon had to battle. At the furthest end of the pool was a large 2 story diving board. On the end of the top board stood a young woman, around 3 to 4 years older than Joe. She had short ginger hair and was wearing a sea blue swim suit. Joe noticed that she and Winter both looked very similar. He wondered if they may be related in any way. The girl steadied herself atop the board and jumped, head first, arms pointed forwards. She landed gracefully in the pool and dived down to the very bottom. A minute passed and she still didn't come back up.

"Do you think she's ok?" Joe asked as he peered into the pool. Suddenly the girl burst out of the water in front of him. Joe stumbled back in surprise and slipped on the wet tiles, landing on his backside. The girl laughed to herself and climbed out of the pool.

"Terribly sorry. I didn't see you standing there" She said, offering Joe a hand. Joe took it and pulled himself back onto his feet.

"It's fine." Joe told her "I should watch where I'm going"

"I'm Misty." She told him "I'm the gym leader here. I train with water type Pokémon." She Looked curiously at Joe for a second, thinking to herself. "Weren't you that trainer that was dealing with those Team Rocket criminals the other day?" she asked. Joe nodded, bashfully.

"Yeah, that was me. But I didn't do it all on my own."

"No, you worked with four other trainers, two who are with you know." She pointed to the stands around the field where Rocky and Winter sat. "I saw your fight and I was quite amazed. You have obvious skill, more than most I've seen in a long time." Misty caught eyes with Winter who was sitting in the stands. Winter looked away, self-consciously. "I imagine you've come here to battle me in order to get the second Gym Badge, Am I right." Joe was a little bit surprised she knew that but then he remembered that she probably had trainers challenging her all the time and that this was nothing new to her.

"Pretty much" he agreed. Misty smiled and nodded.

"Ok then. As Gym leader of Cerulean City I accept your challenge." But before she declared the battle begun she stopped and turned back to Joe. "But before we battle I feel it only fitting I catch the name of the trainer that has challenged me." She told him. "So, trainer… What should I call you?"

"Joe" Joe told her, instinctively. She smiled again.

"Well, Joe. For this battle you'll need to use all your wits if you want to get the best of me. Water Pokémon may look weak but they can take any special attacks you throw at them and sent them crashing back into you. You need to decide the 3 Pokémon you will use for this battle and stand on the left side of the pool. I will do the same and stand on the right side."

"Ok then." Joe accepted.

The battle was about to commence. Joe had made his decision for his team and now stood poised on the stand at the south end of the pool. Misty too was standing on the opposite stand on the north side of the pool. Both had a single Poké ball readied in one hand. To the right was the stands where Rocky and Winter sat watching, the left was a large data board that would show the health of every Pokémon in battle. Misty acted first throwing the poke ball and releasing a Pokémon into the pool. Then Joe threw his.

"Go Pitt!" he exclaimed as he released the ball into the air. It landed on the Centre board and out came the young Bulbasaur, ready for action.

"Goldeen, Horn attack!" Winter commanded to her Pokémon. Goldeen dived down and then launched itself out of the water, horn first towards Pitt.

"Vine whip!" Joe commanded. Pitt dodged out of the way of the incoming Goldeen and lashed out with two thin vines. Misty's goldeen however was too fast for him and had easily dodged Pitts vines and landed back in the water.

"Again, Goldeen!" Misty commanded. Again Goldeen jumped out of the water, horn first, aimed at Pitt. But this time Pitt didn't move. Instead he launched his vines at Goldeen and wrapped it up in mid jump, leaving it hanging. Goldeen struggled about in the vines but Pitt wasn't going to let go easily. He then began bashing the Goldeen up and down against the floor. It complained and flailed about in his grip. The Data board showed Goldeen's health bar. Every time pit smashed it down the bar shrunk a tiny bit.

"Good work, Pitt!" Joe encouraged.

"Goldeen, Horn attack!" Goldeen squirmed again in Pitts grip. Then it broke free and dropped down, horn first onto Pitt, striking him on the head. Pitt stumbled backwards, groaning in pain. Goldeen took advantage of this and fired a ring of water at him. The ring struck Pitt and knocked him off the board and into the pool. He splashed about, trying to swim but he was finding it tough to stay afloat.

"Pitt, come back!" Joe commanded and withdrew Pitt back. The board score changed. It now read 'Joe 0:1 Misty' Joe gritted his teeth with the rush of energy and anticipation. He reached for his second poke ball and unclipped it from his belt and held it aloft in his hand. He pulled back his arm and threw the ball. "Go, Pippy!" he commanded. The tiny Pikachu appeared on the centre board, ready to fight finally. Goldeen swam back around to continue fighting.

"Horn attack!" Misty commanded. Goldeen dived down under the water and burst out again, aimed, horn first, at Pippy.

"Evade it!" Joe commanded. Just before goldeen struck, Pippy rolled aside and it crashed head first into the floor. It lay flat where it landed, its head spinning. Pippy took quick advantage and slammed himself into its side. Goldeen rolled over upon impact and Pippy too was knocked back. He clutched his head as he took recoil damage from the attack.

"Flail!" Misty shouted, the battle energising her. Goldeen struggled about on the float, whipping Pippy with her tail. Pippy was knocked back a little and on the board his help bar depleted a little.

"Thundershock!" Joe ordered, conclusively. Pippy regained concentration and drew all his energy together in a small electric spark. He released the bolt in a flash of electricity and struck Goldeen square in the forehead. It seized up and fell to its side, paralyzed. Misty withdrew her Pokémon.

"Good work, Goldeen." She said to the pokéball containing her fainted Pokémon. "Now you can rest" and with that she put away the ball. She then unclipped her second ball and readied it. She pulled her arm back and released. "Go Staryu!" she exclaimed as the ball flew through the air and released onto the float her own Staryu.

At the side-lines Rocky and Winter had been watching with anticipation. They cheered when Joe made a good move and winced when poor Pitt was taken out of the battle.

"Joe's doing a pretty good job" Rocky mentioned.

"Yeah." Winter agreed. "They both have only two Pokémon left, though. It could still go either way." Rocky looked to her.

"Joe currently has the type advantage. His pikachu is an electric type and Misty uses water types, meaning any electric moves Joe uses are going to be very effective."

"Staryu, however can learn psychic moves." Winter interrupted. "And pikachus aren't very good at taking special attacks like psychic." See turned back to watch the battle. "And if Misty's Pokémon know that move it may prove to be too much for Joe's team to take."

Back on the field Pippy and Staryu where having a stare down, waiting for the other to make the first move. Misty went first.

"Use Tackle, Staryu!" she commanded. Staryu lay on its back and began to spin rapidly. It then shot forwards at Pippy and struck him, knocking him over. Staryu shot past and spun back around, coming back in for a second attack.

"Double Team!" Joe commanded. Pippy concentrated and – just before Staryu struck – Duplicated into multiple grainy copies. Staryu skidded to a hold and looked at each of them. The images surrounded it in a full circle, spinning around it constantly. It lashed out at one of the images, but as it struck it evaporated into thin air. Pippy – from his hiding place in the copies – struck out at Staryu and hit it in the back. Staryu turned around and lashed out at another image. Like the last one it too vanished into nothing as it was struck. Pippy struck out again, hitting Staryu from the side and knocking it back.

"Rapid Spin!" Misty commanded. Staryu began spinning again, getting faster and faster. It struck out at each and every one of the copies in front of it and one by one each of them disappeared. Then it struck one specific images and instead of disappearing it flew backwards. The real Pippy pushed himself up again as his double team images faded away. "Douse him with water gun!" Winter commanded. Staryu shot a small stream of water at Pippy. As he got up he was knocked back against the strength of the water. He held his arms out, trying to stop it pushing him back.

"Quick, use thundershock!" Joe told him. Pippy nodded and tensed, readying his electricity. Staryu didn't let up. It kept the water stream flowing, pummelling Pippy backwards bit by bit towards the edge of the board. Without warning he released the bolt strait at Staryu and struck it on the central core. Misty's Staryu seized up and, after a couple of seconds, toppled over backwards, paralysed.

"Good work, Staryu." She said as she withdrew Staryu from the battle. She clipped the ball back onto her trainer belt. "One Pokémon left." She declared. "But they say never use your trump card first" she unclipped her final poke-ball and readied it in her hand. "Go Starmie!" she yelled as she released her final Pokémon. The beam shot out from the ball and touched down on the floating board. As the light faded a Pokémon was revealed. It was the same shape as Staryu but had an extra star on the back, giving it ten points rather than five. It was also blue, unlike Staryu and had a ruby shaped core at its centre rather than org shaped, and it was twice the size of its previous evolution. It loomed in front of Pippy like predator over prey.

"What on earth is that?" Joe asked, surprised.

"This is Staryu's evolution." Misty told him. "It's strongest form. You thought my other Pokémon may have been tough? Prepare to be thrashed!" she struck a finger out towards Pippy who stood, overwhelmed by Starmie's presence. "Starmie, use Water Pulse!" Starmie did as she instructed, releasing a large circular beam of water at Pippy.

"Evade it, Pippy!" Joe commanded. Without hesitating Pippy dived aside just in time as the beam passed through where he had been standing harmlessly. "Quick attack it!" Joe told him. Pippy shot forwards, head lowered ready to strike. He swerved from side to side as he ran, a blur as he reached amazing speeds.

"Counter it!" Misty commanded. Starmie Spun around on its back like a spinning top, limbs lashing out at the air. Unfortunately Pippy wasn't quick enough to stop and as he came in to strike he was sent flying backwards by Starmie's rapidly moving arms. He crashed into the far end of the float flat on his back. "Now, use psychic!" Winter commanded. Pippy barely had time to get up before he was struck by a huge psychic wave that made him crumple back down to the floor. He weakly lifted himself off the ground with one arm and stood exhausted on the field. He tried to stay standing but the effort was too much. He fell flat on the floor, unconscious, without Starmie needing to make another attack. The score board showed Pippy's bar to be completely gone. Joe took out Pippy's pokéball and withdrew him. As he clipped away the ball he sighed sadly.

"One left each now." He said to himself. He looked back to his closest friends. "Are you ready to fight?" he asked. Ralph nodded, firmly. He wanted to win this fight just as much as Joe did. Joe stared firmly back to the battlefield. "Let's finish this, Ralph!"

Ralph took his place on the battlefield. As he could fly he didn't need to stay put on the middle float. He and Starmie tensed, preparing to fight to win.

"Ralph, Wing attack!" Ralph dived forwards, wings spread wide.

"Starmie, use Swift" Winter commanded. Starmie rapidly spun on the spot and a ray of star shapes shot out. Ralph tried to dodge the attack but one of the stars struck him on the side and knocked him around clumsily.

"Keep going, Ralph." Ralph recovered from the attack and kept on going. He struck Starmie in the stomach with his right wing and knocked it completely on its back. Starmie quickly rolled backwards and got back up on its legs.

"Nice move" Misty complemented. "But you won't win that easily. Starmie, use Psychic" Starmie concentrated its mind and released a huge wave of psychic energy.

"Look out!" Joe yelled. Ralph wasn't able to move out of the way in time. He was battered by the wave and sent crashing out of the air. "NO!" Joe screamed. He closed his eyes, waiting for his friend to crash into the water. Ralph clenched his eyes shut and dived down, wings folded in. and just before he hit the water we opened his long winds and swooped up, just skimming the water and traveling at amazing speeds directly at Starmie. Starmie stared on very worried. 'CRASH', Ralph smashed into Starmie's chest, head first and knocked it flying backwards. Ralph too took a lot of damage from his attack. His health bar was dangerously low already and he was clearly exhausted. "This is looking bad." Joe thought to himself. Then he remembered the potions he bought earlier that day. "Ralph, come here a second." Ralph turned back to him, exhausted and confused as to why Joe wanted him to come back. Joe felt around in his bag and pulled out a small cylindrical plastic squeezer vile of orange liquid. A super potion. Ralph's expression changed from tired to relief in a split second. He swooped over, bit down on the vile, cracked the top off and glugged down the medicine before Joe could even react. As he gulped down the last drop from the vile he grinned energetically and fluttered around excitedly. Joe looked at him surprised, then he chuckled. "Looks like that did the job" he laughed. Ralph turned back to the battle, full of energy, ready to fight again.

"Starmie, use Psychic!" Misty commanded. Starmie Concentrated again and released its psychic energy wave again. This time, however, Ralph was prepared. He swooped aside as the wave passed by harmlessly.

"Now, use Supersonic!" Joe commanded. Ralph took in a deep breath and released a small circlet ring at Starmie. It struck and knocked it around, confusing it as its vision doubled and misted and its hearing buzzed and rippled. "Now strike it again with Air cutter!" Ralph Pulled back its wings and released, sending a huge ripple of slicing air at Starmie. It slashed through it, knocking it down onto its front legs. Starmie was almost beaten now. "Good work, Ralph. Now let's finish this with Steel wing!" Ralph stiffened his wings and dived in again for the attack.

"Look out, Starmie!" Misty cried "Use Psychic now!" Starmie focused and released one final large wave of psychic energy.

"Dodge it, Ralph" Joe cried, but Ralph didn't pay attention. He kept going at the same speed. "What are you doing?" Joe asked as ralph and the wave got closer and closer. Ralph still continued on. Finally he collided with the wave and shot strait through it. He winced as the psychic energy struck out at his mind and tried to cripple him. He pushed his way through desperately as his energy bar began to drop dramatically, never stopping his attack. Then, finally, he burst out of the other side, still awake and still with enough energy to fight. Joe, Misty, Starmie, Rocky and Winter all stared in amazement. In one final attempt Starmie tried to defend itself, releasing another beam of star shapes but to no avail. Ralph quickly dived aside from every single one of them. Finally Starmie gave up on fighting and tried to shield itself from the attack. Then Ralph dived forwards to strike. For Starmie everything suddenly went black. It was struck from above as Ralph's final attack hit its mark, just above Starmie's core. It stood, shocked and paralyzed from the attack, shaking back and forth from the impact as Ralph swooped past and flew back to Joe's side. Slowly Starmie tilted back, its weight moving behind it, and then it dropped like a stone into the pool. It floated, unconsciously, face up on the water as Misty stood amazed by her dramatic loss and the brilliant skills that here opponent and his Pokémon had mastered already. Here arms dropped to her side and she sighed, saddened but full of energy from the fight.

"I have been beaten." She admitted kindly. "Congratulations. You truly are strong." She stepped down from her battle stand, as did Joe. They walked up to each other and shook hands. She then took a small, water droplet shaped badge and handed it to Joe. She dropper it into his hand and he clenched it. "That is the Cascade Badge." She told him. "This is proof that you have beaten me for all other gym leaders and the Elite Four to see as proof you are a strong trainer."

"Thank you." Joe told her, appreciatively. "But you were very strong. Truthfully you almost beat me." Misty flushed and giggled embarrassedly.

"I don't think I could have ever beaten your Crobat even if all my Pokémon were the strongest in all of Kanto." Joe laughed, completely flattered by her comment. "Seriously." She continued. I've met trainers with Crobats. I had a friend who used a Crobat for a while. They're good Pokémon. And it's clear that you and Ralph have a very strong bond. You two could easily become the new champions if you wanted to." Joe shook his head.

"Sorry." He disagreed. "I don't think that being a champion is my kind of thing."

Joe walked out of the Gym, proud and self-confident. Rocky and Winter stood waiting for him. They ran up to him and patted him on the back.

"Great battle" Rocky said. "Amazing! So close to losing yet coming back with that amazing strategy of supersonic and Steel wing."

"It seems so far that move has won every gym battle for you." Winter agreed. "So what's your plan now?"

"I guess we travel to the next town." Joe said. "Vermilion. I believe there's another gym there.

"Another challenge for you then." Winter added

"Exactly." Joe agreed "So we head to Vermilion City next." They all nodded. "Then let's get going, shall we?" he said, encouragingly. They smiled and walked off down the road towards the Southern City of Vermilion. As they walked Joe remembered something. He stood beside Winter.

"Didn't you say you were going to see someone in Cerulean when you joined me back in Viridian?"

"And I did." Winter told him. "I spoke with them in my spare time when you and Rocky were training."

"And who was it you were visiting?" Joe asked curiously.

"Just a friend." Winter told him, trying to change the subject.

"A friend?" Joe asked, feeling she wasn't telling him something.

"Yes, now let's stop this conversation." She said, strongly. Joe backed up slightly.

"Whatever you want."

They reached a woody area down the path that surrounded them all around. They walked on and on as the day drew on… and then Ralph saw something move in the shadows. A tall, dark figure lurking within the enclosed trees, watching them closely. He turned and looked at where he saw the figure. It was still there, still watching them, half hidden by the trees and almost invisible, except to Ralphs Nocturnal eyes.

"Ralph?" Joe asked as he noticed his friend had stopped. "Are you ok?" Ralph looked back at them, then back at the shadow, but it was gone now. He shook his head and turned back to join the others.

The figure hid behind the tree, aware that the Crobat had seen him, but also conscious that he wouldn't act on a stranger he doesn't know. He had been following these trainers for some time, ever since he saw that young trainer with the Crobat back in Viridian City. Even though he'd bumped into him for a split second he knew there was something important about him. Something of a strong aura about him. Like he was important in the grand scheme of things. He looked back around the tree, making sure they were moving on. He continued to watch them, his Golbat moving closer to get a look at the trainers heading south. And when he was sure they were out of sight he stepped quietly back into the shadows, like he had never been there.


	9. Chapter 9: The Charmander in Daycare

After a couple of hours walking the team decided to rest beside a small pond by the side of the road. Rocky and his machop, Chopper had found a bunch of fallen trees and, after a few minutes chopping, had managed to make a couple of makeshift chares for them to sit in, while winter had pulled out a couple of sandwiches from her bag which she'd brought with her. As they ate they sat at the side of the pool. Joe had decided to let his entire team out for the day while they ate. Pippy and Pitt sat at the side of the pool both munching happily on a large apple while Sting was sitting alone a couple of meters from the group but not too far from Ralph. Winter too had her Pokémon out. Her Staryu and Poliwag were messing around in the water. Joe looked over to his team. Pippy and Pitt were really enjoying themselves. They had finished the apple and were now laughing happily while talking. He couldn't understand the speech of Pokémon but it was obvious they were talking about something funny as they kept bursting out into laughter. He looked over to Sting and Ralph. The two of them seemed very distant from each other. Ralph still hadn't got over his experience with Beedrills when he and Joe first met. Sting, meanwhile, had always been rather distanced from all the others. Joe assumed that that was just his nature. That he wanted to be alone.

Winter had pulled out her fishing rod and was dangling it into the calm water of the pool. It nudged around occasionally but so far nothing had grabbed hold. Joe got up and walked over to join her.

"Anything biting?" he asked, curiously. Winter shook her head.

"Nothing yet." She told him. "Not even a magikarp."

"What are you fishing for, anyway?" Joe enquired.

"Pokémon." Winter said simply, turning around to look at him cynically.

"I mean why." Joe told her, not laughing. She smiled.

"I'm fishing for new Pokémon to add to my team. Water Pokémon, specifically."

"Oh yeah. I forgot you were a water type trainer." Joe told her. She laughed. Suddenly the rod twitched and the bait was pulled under the water. Winter sprang into action, pulling back with the rod and pushing herself back with her feet.

"I got a bite!" she exclaimed. "It's a big one!" She tugged back but what she'd grabbed wasn't letting go so soon.

"Reel it in!" Joe exclaimed, excitedly.

"That's what I'm doing!" She yelled back at him. She pulled in the reel but the Pokémon wasn't giving up easily. Then, suddenly, after one gigantic tug, the rod pulled it out of the water, sending Winter falling backwards from the recoil. The Pokémon landed softly onto the grass in front of them. It was small and sea blue with a long tail that it had curled up to its chest and a long snout for its mouth.

"Horsea" Winter smiled. "A great catch." Horsea struggled around on the grass. As it got over the shock it stretched out its tail and gripped a couple of grass blades and pulled itself back to the water.

"You'd better catch it quick." Rocky told her, now joining them.

"What did you think I was going to do?" She asked, pulling out a free ball from her bag. She pulled it back and threw it at the horsea. Before it could reach the water the poke ball struck it in the back and clicked open, sucking it inside. As the horsea disappeared inside the ball snapped shut and fell to the floor. It shook about where it landed as the Pokémon struggled to escape. Then, finally, the ball stopped struggling and there was a quiet click as the ball locked itself shut.

"All right." Winter exclaimed. "Caught another Pokémon" she picked up the ball and held it in her hand. "I shall name you River" Winter decided as she clipped the poke ball away onto her belt with her other two Pokémon.

"Nice catch!" Joe congratulated her.

"Thank you." She replied, royally curtsying. "It's nothing, really." Joe's Pokémon had joined the trio now. As they talked Ralph heard something in the distance. His ears twitched as the sounds echoed around the forest. He turned around. It sounded like a Pokémon in pain. Not just any wild Pokémon either. Joe had noticed his companion looking around behind them.

"What's wrong Ralph?" he asked. "You seem rather distant today. Is something…" he stopped as he too realised that he could hear something. He shushed for Winter and Rocky to be quiet. "Can't you hear that?" he asked. They stopped talking and clasped a hand around their ears. They could hear a quiet, distant wailing of some kind of animal.

"Sounds like something in pain" Winter said.

"That's what I thought" Joe agreed. There was then another sound. A loud yelling that seemed to be not too far away. It was a young girls voice that was shouting. It was too far away to be understandable but it sounded like a call for help.

"That's a little girl" Rocky pointed out. "Someone's in trouble"

"We need to do something." Joe decided. Before anyone else could react Ralph shot off, down the pathway towards the screaming. "Ralph, wait!" Joe cried after him but Ralph didn't stop. He flapped of down the path, made a turn around a large oak and disappeared out of sight. "We'd better get after him." Joe said and ran after his friend. The others followed closely behind. Pippy caught up quickly to Joe and grabbed onto his leg. Joe picked him up and lifter him onto his shoulder where he perched himself happily as they ran along. They ran and ran, pushing past tree branches and through bushes.

Ralph was far ahead of all of them. He didn't need to push through the trees like they did. He could just fly over them. As he flew he reached the edge of the forest and burst out into a large field of grass. As he looked around he noticed a small brick house in the middle of the field. A fight was going on over by the house. His keen eyes managed to pick out a young girl who was cowering behind a tiny Charmander as it fought off a pair of Team Rocket grunts and their koffings. Joe and the others arrived now, cuts down their arms from the sharp tree branches. They too saw the small brick house not too far away.

"What's a house doing in the middle of a field like this?" Winter pondered.

"I don't know." Joe told her "But it looks like the owner's in trouble." He pointed over to the battle happening in the distance.

"Team Rocket again." Rocky sighed annoyed. "Do they ever give up?" Ralph took off again, towards the Grunts near the house. He wasn't going to let them escape with any more kidnapped Pokémon.

"Ralph, wait up!" Joe called out as he chased after him.

"Give it up, already!" the first grunt demanded.

"No. You're bad people. You'll hurt him!" The little girl yelled at them angrily. Three rocket grunts stood over her, a cluster of Koffings surrounding each of them like the bad odours they created from their bodies. The first grunt pointed a finger at her and his first koffing floated forwards, ready to tackle into her. Reacting to this, the Charmander jumped up and scratched it on the face. The grunt sighed, annoyed as the koffing recoiled back to its master.

"Stop fooling around and hand it over." He demanded again. "Why must all you trainers be so protective over these stupid animals."  
"He's not stupid!" She screamed furiously at him "He's my friend and he's not going with you!" Charmander growled in agreement. He could smell the filth of criminal on them from the start. The other two Grunts shook their heads, disappointed. The first Grunt stepped forwards and slapped her roughly on her face. She recoiled, tears streaming down her eyes as she rubbed the mark he left.

"Don't fight us!" He yelled, roughly. "You will do what we say or we will hurt you more!"

"Don't you touch that girl!" Someone yelled from in the distance. The Grunts looked around in surprise. Suddenly something large and purple crashed into the side of the first one, knocking him to the floor. The other two grunts just stared as Ralph floated above the criminal. Joe, Winter and Rocky arrived, their Pokémon close behind them. Winter ran straight over to the little girl and tried to comfort her.

"Are you alright?" She asked kindly. The little girl nodded her head slightly, her tears drying away a little.

"Yes." She snivelled.

"Don't worry." Joe told her. "We've dealt with this lot before. We won't let them get away with this." The first grunt who had just recovered from Ralphs attack sat up and shook his head. He looked up and growled in anger.

"Teach these lot a lesson, boys!" He commanded. The other grunts did as they were told, commanding their two Koffings to attack. Joe and Rocky looked at each other.

"I'll take the left one…" Rocky said.

"And I'll take the right." Joe added. They both nodded and turned to fight. The following battle that entailed was a blur. Ralph and Crash stood side by side. The foes koffings released a cloud of toxic gases but both Pokémon resisted its power. Ralph then dived in with a wing attack as Crash struck out with his mighty long tail. Within seconds two of the Koffings fell out of the air unconscious. The other two went from excited to terrified in seconds as Ralph Dive bombed one and grabbed it in his maw. Crash scooped up a collection of rocks and hurled them one by one at the final Koffing, knocking it out of the air. The two grunt's stood amazed, no Pokémon on their side left standing.

"Not possible." The first grunt gasped as he got up again and stared at the four fainted Koffing. "It's simply not possible!" he shouted, furiously. He turned to Joe and glared. "Who are you lot?" he asked, angrily.

"Your worst nightmare." Rocky told him, seriously. "And we won't go away until Team Rocket is finished." The grunt sighed, annoyed.

"Retreat to base." He told the other grunts. "We need to inform the boss of this." They scooped up the koffings and ran off, carrying them away into the distance.

"Wow." The young girl exclaimed as the grunts ran away. "That was amazing. You guys are like super trainers." Winter laughed.

"I wouldn't say we're that good." She told her.

"No, seriously." The girl continued. "You guys were like super, ultra, mega good. You three must be like the champions." Joe, Rocky and Winter all laughed.

"We wish." Joe told her.

"What's your name, then?" Winter asked. The girl smiled sweetly to her.

"My name's Jade." She told her.

"Do you live here on your own?" Rocky asked. The girl shook her head.

"No, my grandpa lives here too but he's out at town right now." She told them.

"And he just left you here alone." Joe asked, concerned.

"Oh, don't worry. I can take care of myself." She told them. "I know how to cook for myself and I can take care of all the Pokémon grandpa takes in."

"What do you mean 'all the Pokémon your grandfather takes in'?" Winter asked.

"He uses our house as a day-care centre for Pokémon that are owned by other trainers." She told them. He takes them in to either take care of them for while or to train them till the trainer takes them back." She pointed down to the Charmander beside her. "Cinders here has been here for over 3 months now. Some evil person left it all on its own in the rain. That's dangerous for Charmanders. They die if their tail fire is extinguished."

"Cinders?" Joe asked.

"That's what I named him." She told them. She then giggled to herself. "I'm sorry. You're all probably tired. Would you like to come inside for a bit and rest?" She asked them. Every one of the team looked at each other. They were all a bit tired from running all that way.

"Sure." Joe told her. "Why not"

The internal of the house itself wasn't very big. Almost all of the house was just one large room with a big play pen, a couple of beds in one corner, a dining table at the centre with cooking utensils, dish washer and cupboards and a small living room area with two sofas and a small television. There was also a door to the bathroom on the far left of the room and a large fireplace at the furthest end of the house. The girl, Jade, had pulled up a couple of chairs around the fire and placed a small china kettle on the metal grate above it. There were several other Pokémon in the house, clearly Pokémon that were being taken care of for the day care service. Joe counted them. There was a Rattata, a Sandshrew, A Clefairy, Two Meowths, a Golduck, a Vulpix and at least four Oddishes. Most of them were sleeping inside the pen but a couple of them were playing around the room. The Vulpix waddled up to Joe and tugged on his leg with its paw. Joe smiled and stroked it behind the ear. It yapped happily and did a little spin of joy before running off to play again with the other Pokémon. As the kettle began to whistle the girl lifted it off the grate and placed it on a small table beside them with four china cups on a tray. Carefully she poured the boiled water into each cup, lifted the tray up in both hands and passed a cup to each of them. As they drank they talked about what had happened outside. Outside a thunderstorm began to roll in.

"So why was team Rocket bothering you at all." Winter asked, curiously. "I don't wish to be rude but you hardly seem like you'd be much a problem for them."

"It's because of cinders here." Jade said, gesturing to the small Charmander sitting on the floor beside her. "They wanted to steal him from us. They think that he'd be a useful Pokémon for their plans."

"What made them think that?" Joe asked. Jade shrugged.

"Don't know?" She replied simply. "Maybe it's because his species is rare amongst trainers and in the wild."

"That sounds like them to me." Rocky agreed. "They've already tried to kidnap Ralph because he's rare. Why wouldn't they try with other Pokémon?" he reasoned. The girl sighed.

"Where did Charmander come from?" Winter asked. Jade looked down at Cinders who'd curled up on the rug next to the fire.

"Grandpa found him wandering the forests alone, hungry and afraid. He befriended him and brought him back to be fed and taken care of." She bent down and stroked Cinders red scaly head. As she did so he purred happily and a small wisp of smoke escaped from his mouth. She then continued with her story. "We asked around at Vermilion and Cerulean to see if anyone had recently lost a Charmander but no one had. So grandpa just decided to take care of it till someone came to claim it…"

"But no one did." Joe finished for her. She nodded sadly.

"No. Not even one person has come to claim it since." She paused for a second. "Then team rocket start showing up, demanding that we hand him over. Then you three show up and kick their asses like they didn't know what hit them." She exclaimed, getting more excited as she remembered the fight outside. At that moment the door swung open and an elderly white haired bolding man walking in through the door. He wore a long brown rain coat which dripped with rain water from the storm that had just started outside. As he entered the girl shot up out of her seat and ran towards him, arms out. "Grandpa." She cried happily and embraced him. He hugged her back.

"Ah, my dear Jade." He laughed. "It's good to see you, too." He looked up and noticed Joe, Winter, Rocky and Ralph for the first time. "And who are our guests?" he asked politely. Jade gripped her grandfather's arm tightly.

"Grandpa, while you were away Team Rocket attacked again. They tried to kidnap Cinders." She gestured to the trio. "These trainers save us and defeated the rockets, sending them running back to their masters." Her grandfather stood up again. One by one the team stood up from their seats and walked up to him.

"My name's Joe." Joe told him. He turned back to the others. "And these are my friends, Rocky and Winter and my Pokémon, Ralph."

"And you willingly helped Jade out against a bunch of Criminals?" he asked, relatively surprised by their kind act.

"Yes." Joe answered truthfully. "We've had trouble with Team Rocket recently and we've seen their attempts to kidnap Pokémon from people." Jade's grandfather let go of her. He walked up to the trio and held out a hand.

"I thank you for your help." He said, shaking Joe's hand. "What could I do to repay you for your actions?"

"You don't need to worry about that." Joe told him. "We just happened to be nearby at the time when they attacked. We don't want a reward for that."

"Somewhere to stay for the night would be nice, though" Winter added. "Till the storm passes over." The grandfather turned back around to Jade

"Fix up some spare blankets and pillows and clear a place for them to rest in the den" he told her.

"Yes, Grandpa" Jade replied quickly and dashed off to the den to set up a couple of beds.

"Thank you very much for helping us out." Rocky told him.

"Think nothing of It." the grandfather told him. "The least I can do for your help."

"I'm terribly sorry but we didn't catch your name." Winter said. Jade's grandfather swiped a hand through the air to silence her.

"Just call me Mr Fuji" he told her.

The night travelled in quickly. The storm however did not pass at all. The rain had continued to pour down heavier and heavier as the hours passed. The group had managed to fall asleep through the din of the storm however. Joe was used to the sound and found it rather comforting. It reminded him of being back home and camping out in one of the fields with Tom, his closest friends. Charmander however couldn't sleep. He could smell trouble. Team Rocket hadn't left them alone yet and he could tell they were going to come back, this time a lot stronger and more of them. He sniffed the air, recoiled, sat up and pulled on Jade's sleeping arm. She groaned as she came back into consciousness.

"What is it, Cinders?" she asked, drowsily. "What's the matter?" He ran over to the far window and pointed up at it, worriedly. Jade got up from her bed and walked over to the window Cinders was pointing at. She looked out. In the mist of the falling rain she could see two figures walking towards the house. She couldn't make out any details of the pair and it looked like they had a small, gelatinous Pokémon following them. As she watched she saw a dozen more people appear out of the shadows and jump them. They were clearly wearing the black clothing and suits of Team Rocket grunts. "Team Rocket's back!" Jade shouted, running from the window and shaking each of them awake one by one. "Wake up! Wake up! They're back and they're attacking people out there!"

Joe, Winter and Rocky charged through the door and into the rain. They quickly spotted the grunts harassing another group of people.

"When will they ever stop?" Rocky asked, sarcastically.

"Ralph, Use air cutter!" Joe commanded. Upon command Ralph pulled back his wings and released, creating a wave of sharp, cutting air. The attack struck one of the grunt who had grabbed one of the figures and knocked him backwards. The others turned and saw the trio charging towards them. An important looking grunt stepped out from the group. He wore the white uniform of a commander and on the hat was a C symbol sitting on the flat front. He also had an eye patch over his right eye and an ugly scar protruding from underneath.

"Not this lot again." He waved a hand "Get rid of them!" half a dozen grunts stepped forward to stop them, leaving the other half a dozen struggling against the trainers they had jumped.

"Commander Cheng!" Joe exclaimed angrily.

"Let's teach these low life's the lesson that harassment and stealing isn't the road to a happy existence." Rocky exclaimed as he, Joe and Winter readied a poke ball from belts. Synchronised, they threw there balls forwards and one by shouted the names.

"Go, Sting!" Joe shouted as he sent in his reliable Beedrill.

"Come on out, River!" Winter cried as she released her newly caught horsea.

"Let's do this, Chopper!" Rocky roared as he let out his pulverising machop. The grunts themselves sent out their stereotypical Pokémon; Sandshrews, Ekans', Koffings and Grimers. Quickly battle ensued as Joe and Sting took on two koffings.

"Twin needle!" Joe commanded. Sting lunged at both Koffings, striking each with a sharp drill arm. The Koffings retaliated but charging in for a tackle. "Dodge them" Joe told him. Sting swung back quickly as the Two Koffings collided into each other. Rocky and Winter meanwhile had teamed up to take on the other grunts.

"Karate Chop!" Rocky commanded

"Smokescreen!" Winter commanded. River shot a small blob of black ink at the feet of one of the Sandshrews. As it hit it erupted into a black misty cloud that blocked out its vision. As it struggled in the dark Chopper lashed out with a tough edged hand and struck it on the side of the head. The sandshrew was knocked out instantly before it even hit the ground.

Jade meanwhile had taken Charmander to save the other trainers from the remaining team rocket grunts. Charmander had little trouble dealing with their Rattatas and in panic the grunts fled from the group. Jade and Cinders ran up to the trainers as the knelt, winded from the attack.

"Are you ok?" she asked. The girl nodded. She was tanned with turquoise eyes and long curly blue hair and wore a red skin tight suit with black boots and gloves. Printed on the front of the suit was a card, specifically the Ace of Diamonds.

"I'm fine, thanks." She told her, looking up at the young girl. "Thanks for the concern"

"But they won't be when I get at them!" the other trainer exclaimed. He too wore the red skin tight uniform with black gloves and boots. He too had a card printed onto the front however his was the Ace of Clubs. He looked up to look her in the face. He was pail with chocolate brown eyes and short, spiky green hair. The small Pokémon that had been with them had come back out of the shadows it had jumped into. It was small, pink and gelatinous.

"Let's get our own back on these fools' lads." It said, dramatically.

"Frank you nitwit." The boy exclaimed. "You go running off to the nearest hiding place the second trouble shows up." Frank shook angrily.

"Hey. I didn't tell those people to jump out of nowhere at us. My natural instincts tell me that when the going gets tough you run the other way. Jade looked down at him amused and surprised. She had seen many different Pokémon since she'd been with her grandfather but never one that looked like this, except in a book on rare Pokémon.

"You're a Ditto aren't you?" She said excited. Frank looked at her cautiously.

"So what if I am?" he asked, questioningly.

"Nothing." She said, rather sheepishly. By this point Joe and Sting had finished off the two koffing. Joe was about to join Rocky and Winter when he noticed Jade with the trainers that had been attacked.

"We should go see if they're ok." He told Ralph and Sting. They both nodded in agreement. As Joe ran over to the group he saw properly who they were. He sighed

"Of course." he said to himself, shaking his head. "Team Ace. They always manage to turn up whenever trouble is around." Team Ace had noticed him now, too.

"Oh look who it is, Ross!" Ruby said, annoyed.

"I see him, Ruby." Ross told her. "It's that twit who got lucky against us in Viridian Forest."

"No need to be polite to us." Joe said sarcastically. "We're trying to help you here and all you can do is moan about previous losses."

"You!" A booming voice said from behind them. Joe turned to see the Rocket commander looking straight at them, fists clenched by his sides. Rain pouring down his face and hat as he straightened it out. "We are not done here!" he reached for a pokéball at his belt and unclipped it. "I challenge you to a battle!" he roared ferociously. "For the Charmander!" Joe clenched his fists too. He turned to Ralph and nodded.

"You're on!" he accepted.

The rain crashed down on the two of them as they squared of outside of the day care house. Lightning flashed nearby and thunder rolled over like the firing of a cannon. Joe wiped the rain from his eyes and prepared for battle.

"Go, Ekans!" Commander Cheng exclaimed as he threw his first of two pokéballs. As it opened a small but long purple snake appeared. It rattled its tail in an attempt to make itself look threatening.

"Sting, Fury Attack!" Joe commanded. Sting flew in for the attack, needle tips pointed out, ready to strike.

"Dig!" Cheng commanded. Quickly Ekans jumped up, landed nose first on the ground and disappeared down a rapidly extending hole. Sting skidded to a halt and looked around desperately. He tried to figure out where the foes Ekans had gone. Suddenly the purple snake burst back out of the ground and struck him in the chest, knocking it down to the ground. It quickly rapped itself around stings arms and body with its long tail and gripped it tight. Sting tried to struggle out of its grip but couldn't. Ekans had him held tight.

"Come on, Sting!" Joe encouraged him. "Focus your energy! Hit him with all your power!" Sting did exactly that. He loosened his muscles and focuses all his strength while still being held in Ekans' grip. Then, to the great surprise of Ekans and Commander Cheng, Sting broke free from the grip and lifted himself into the air. Ekans struggled in Stings grip as Sting razed him into the air. And then Sting threw with all his might. Ekans sailed, screaming, through the air and crashed heavily to the ground. The fight wasn't over however. Ekans got strait back up and came in for another attack, this time attempting to bite him.

"Get rid of him!" Commander Cheng yelled ferociously.

"Twineedle!" Joe commanded. Sting readied himself to strike Ekans as it got close. Ekans widened its jaw, ready to grip onto Stings arm. And then Sting swung out with both stingers at the same time, striking Ekans in the mouth with one and in the stomach with the other. Ekans crumpled forwards in surprise and collapsed completely. Sting pulled back as Ekans fainted gently to the floor.

"Good work Sting." Joe cheered. Commander Cheng growled angrily.

"Don't get too cocky, boy!" He shouted over the thunder. "I still have 1 more Pokémon left to fight." He unclipped his last pokéball and readied it in his hand. "Go Raticate!" he yelled as he released the ball from his hand onto the ground. As it burst open a small, 2 foot tall brown rat appeared out of the ball. It gnashed its teeth together and growled at Sting evilly.

"Ready yourself, Sting!" Joe said, attempting to calm his friend. "Only one left"

"Raticate! Scary face!" Cheng commanded. Raticate's eyes glowed red and it opened its jaw wide, revealing rows of sharp teeth, letting out a vile screech as it did so. Sting shivered slightly, letting out a mild yell of fear and backing off from the battle.

"Sting, stay calm!" Joe instructed, calmly. "Close your eyes. Don't look at its face." Sting did as he was told, shutting his two huge insect eyes.

"Hyper fang!" Commander Cheng commanded, taking advantage of Joe commands. Raticate charged forwards, Jaw wide open, ready to bite down with all his strength.

"Fury attack!" Joe yelled finally. Sting snapped open his eyes, struck out with a mighty drill… and missed. A split second later Raticate crashed into him and gripped his arm in its jaw. As Sting struggled in its grip it broke free only to have raticate strike it again at lightning speed in the chest. This was the last that Sting was going to take. Without instruction sting pulled back an arm, eyes glowing red with furious rage and struck out, striking Raticate under the chin. Raticate recoiled in pain and let out a hurt squeak. Sting was battered and bruised but he was holding his own. But the pain was getting the better of him. He dropped from the air to his knees and toppled to the side. He lay unconscious on his side for several seconds before Joe withdrew him from the battle. "Good work, Sting" Joe said kindly as he held the ball in his hand. "Take a rest for now." He clipped the ball back to his belt but still stood firm and defensive in his place.

"Why must you persist to intervene with our work?" Commander Cheng demanded.

"Because you persist to steal from others." Joe retorted.

"Who's to say that Pokémon belong to others. All Pokémon belong to Team Rocket" Commander Cheng Roared.

"I think most people would disagree!" Joe yelled back.

"Then I shall take their Pokémon from them by force!"

Not If I can help it!" Cinders was watching the fight desperately. He wanted to do something but didn't know what.

"Ralph, it's time to join in." Joe said to his friend. Ralph sighed and took his place.

"Hyper fang!" Commander Cheng Directed. Raticate shot forwards, teeth bared, maw open wide.

"Steel Wing!" Joe commander. Ralph strengthened his wings to the density of steel. They started to glisten and turn grey. Then he too struck forwards, wings outstretched and, As Raticate came into view it jumped up and bit his wing. It was knocked to the ground by Ralphs Metal coated wings but kept its grip, pulling Ralph down with it. Ralph knocked it back and got itself back up in the air but quickly Raticate was up again, too and lashed out at him, sending him spinning in the air. Cinders watched on in horror, stunned by how badly the fight was going. Every time Ralph got back up Raticate would lash out again, knocking him back.

"Oh no." Jade anxiously exclaimed. "They're losing the fight. That can't happen." She looked down at her Charmander friend by her side. He looked sad and helpless to do anything. He looked up at Jade desperately. Since he'd arrived at their house he'd made the vow not to fight unless absolutely provoked. He wanted her permission to retaliate. She nodded seriously. "Finish this fight" Cinders smiled happily, lowered his head and charged.

Ralph collapsed to the ground, Wings crumpled at his sides. Raticate stood over it, teeth bared. Commander Cheng stood behind it. He looked down at Ralph, then up to Joe, then back down at Raticate

"Get rid of it!" he instructed. Raticate paced slowly forwards and readied to attack. It lifter a paw, ready to strike. Suddenly a flash of red and something head-butted it in the side, sending it rolling sideways.

"What?" Joe exclaimed

"What!" Commander Cheng Exclaimed. Cinders stood defensively in front of Ralph. He wasn't going to let anyone get hurt because of Team Rockets greed. Commander Cheng growled angrily, clenching his teeth.

"Enough messing around. Raticate, take them out!" Raticate got up and charged again. Cinders was prepared however. It inhaled deeply and when it exhaled a giant pillar of fire shot out, engulfing Raticate completely. It cried out in pain and when the smoke faded it lay fainted on the chard floor. Commander Cheng stood in total shock.

"NO!" he exclaimed dramatically. "You!... YOU!..." he stuttered. He shook his arms angrily and then, dramatically he dropped them to his sides, his fists still clenched. Quickly he withdrew Raticate. "You win this time, Trainer." Commander Cheng told him. "But next time we meet we shall fight again, and I will win." And with that he took off into the distance, after his grunts who had been defeated a couple of minutes earlier. Jade ran up to Cinders and hugged him tight. He hugged her back and rubbed his scaly head against hers.

"Well done Cinders." She praised him. "You did good."

"But what about Ralph?" Joe said, scooping up his battered friend in both arms. "He needs medical attention" Mr Fuji walked up to them and placed a cold palm on Ralph's unconscious forehead. He then smiled kindly and looked up at Joe.

"I think he's going to be ok." He told him, happily. "He just needs a rest for now."

The next day the team prepared to set off. They rested and packed and said thanks to Mr Fuji and Jade for their hospitality.

"I don't think Team Rocket will be bothering you anymore." Joe told them. He and Mr Fuji shook hands as they stepped out of the front door.

"I thank you for helping us out with our troubles." Mr Fuji told him. "Many trainers would have just walked by or wouldn't have been strong enough to stop them. We are most fortunate you came along."

"We'd better get going now." Winter told them. "We're heading to Vermillion City currently and Joe plans to take the gym on in order to get the badge."

"Well aren't you lot just perfect." Ross mocked.

"Seriously. Winning one battle against Team Rocket doesn't makes you strong enough to beat a Gym leader." Ruby added. "You didn't even win that battle yourself. You were helped out by that silly little reptile." Cinders huffed, annoyed by her comment.

"If you remember correctly we saved you lot last night." Rocky reminded them. "So maybe you could stop being arrogant fools for one second in your life."

"Whatever, rock head." Frank snickered. "But we're leaving now. You know how it is. Big world, many rare Pokémon to catch." And with that Team Ace ran, back into the woods.

"Some people will never change" Winter sighed.

"But we should be leaving, too." Joe said, changing the subject. "Especially if we want to arrive today." Jade stepped forwards and held out her hands.

"Before you go I have something for you." She told him. Cinders looked up at the two of them hopefully. She opened her hands and inside was a single poké ball.

"A pokè ball?" Joe said, a little confused and disappointed. "Well thank you very much but I already have lots of them."

"It's not just any normal pokè ball." She told him. "This one is Cinders pokè ball. He was holding it when we found him." She looked down at her tiny Charmander friend. "Me, grandpa and Cinders talked and he's decided that he wants to go with you. He wants to travel with a kind but strong trainer and you are both." She held out the pokè ball again. Joe looked from her to Cinders then back to the pokè ball. Without saying anything Joe took the ball from her hands and held it in his own. He smiled down at the Charmander.

"Welcome to the team, Cinders." He said. Cinders did a small dance for joy before running up to Joe and hugging his leg tight. Joe winced. His grip was quite strong for something so small. "Ok, that's enough." He said pushing him off gently. "That hurts now."

"Before you leave…" Mr Fuji began. "I should probably warn you. Be careful on your Journey. A gang of roaming slavers have been seen around route 6. They've been kidnapping both Pokémon and their trainers."

"Slavers!" Winter gasped "In Kanto?"

"A bunch of them moved over here from another country. Can't remember which. I think it was Orre" Mr Fuji continued. "Be careful on the road and stay vigilant. You may have won against team rocket but if those slavers catch you then your life will be over." He smiled, changing the subject. "Now get going. You've got gyms to beet and Pokémon to raise."

"Thanks for your generosity" Rocky called to them as they left.

"It's been a pleasure." Mr Fuji called after them.

"Come back some day." Jade joined in. "And bring Cinders with you."

And so the team continued their journey on to Vermillion city, the newest addition to the team running after them.


	10. Chapter 10: Trainer Arena

Again the dream came to Joe. Always the same one. He had been suffering from them every night since he first met Ralph outside Suroway farm. Only this time the dream was slightly different. It started as usual with Joe atop the hillside looking over the first battle he and Ralph had. He'd turn to see a figure in a large black overcoat and black hat walking towards him. He would ask Joe whether he cared for Ralph, Joe would question his meaning and the man would repeat his question more sternly. Joe would answer yes and the man would tell him to let him go. After this he would usually wake up but this time the dream continued. The hillside and battle faded away and Joe was left standing in an empty corridor. He looked around to see five doors, two on the left, two on the right and one at the end of the corridor. Each door was made of solid metal like a bank volt but there were no locks on the handles. He stepped up to the closest door which was the first door on the left, grabbed the handle and swung the door open. Inside was a memory. One of his that he had locked away at the back of his mind. He was looking from the point of view of a very small little thing that was being carried in the strong arms of a man at around his mid 20's. He was covered in a small blue shawl with white patterns of strange and exotic Pokémon all over it. Joe quickly realised he was looking through the eyes of a baby, around half a year old. His eyes took in the dark all around him and saw in front of him another man of around the same age. He couldn't see any details but his instincts told him who he was.

"Uncle" he muttered, surprised. As he watched the man in front of him reached out, picked him up in his arms and held him close. Then everything faded away into blackness.

Joe awoke suddenly to the sound of crying animals. He looked around and saw metal bars in front of him, around, behind, below and above. He lifted of his hat, scratched his forehead and placed his hat back on top his head.

"What in the…?" he questioned drowsily. He stood up and gripped two of the bars in both hands. He shook them lightly. "A cage?" he thought, still waking up. He tried to remember what happened but all he remembered was something tough hitting him on the back of the head. There was a loud howling in his right ear. He looked around. In the cage beside him stood a very upset and very angry Arcanine. It growled and tried to burn the bars with a flamethrower but its mouth had been tied up to stop it breathing any fire.

"What?" Joe asked again. He looked to his left. There were more cages with more Pokémon. He looked in front of him. There were even more cages with frantic Pokémon in them. All around him were dozens upon dozens of caged Pokémon, all where different and all were going mad.

"What is going on here?" he thought. "Why are there so many Pokémon in cages?"

"Joe?" a voice said. Someone else was in there with him. Joe looked around the cages and saw that one of the cages opposite his had another person inside it. "Is that you?" the voice asked. Joe squinted his eyes. In the rooms dim light he could just about make out who it was.

"Tom?" he asked, surprised. "Is that you?"

"Joe." The other person exclaimed. They got you, too"

"What do you mean 'they got me, too'?" Joe asked.

"Those slavers" Tom told him. "They attacked us last night while on route 7. Don't you remember?"

"Not very well. One of them must have hit me hard on the head. I've got a bit of a headache."

"We had met up again and were preparing for another battle when they turned up, netted all our Pokémon, knocked us all unconscious and flung us in these cages. I don't know what they want from us but it can't be anything good." At that moment there was a slow but loud metallic creaking as the large steel wall to the right of the room started to slide up like a garage door. Bright light shone through the gaps and blinded Joe and Tom at first. As the door screeched to a standstill a large, muscular, bald man in a large jacket with the sleeves cut off, cut jeans that were two sizes too small and worn out steel capped boots was made visible. From first appearances Joe assumed he was of the criminal type. The Crook stomped into the room with ill minded purpose. The room burst into howls and caws and grunts and growls from all the caged Pokémon.

"Shut your traps!" the Crook roared angrily in a gruff, gravely, sinister voice. There was immediate silence. He smiled maliciously. He walked slowly and heavily and finally stopped right in front of Joe's cage. He pulled out a large key chain with multiple keys from his belt and looked at each and every one of them. When he found the one he was looking for he slotted it into the cages lock, twisted and the door swung open slightly. He quickly grabbed the cage door and opened it fully.

"It's time." He said. "You're todays chosen fighter. You're very lucky. We have a big crowd tonight that has come to see you fight." He gestured a hand behind him, telling Joe to leave the cage.

"Who are you?" Joe asked him "And what do you want from us?" The Crook just snickered evilly.

"We want you to fight for us, little man" he said, sinisterly with malicious intent. He grabbed Joe by the scruff of the neck and pulled him out of the cage. He pushed him forwards towards the doorway with one rough, weathered hand. He pushed him through the lit doorway into a small wooden hut with a light basket hanging from the roof. As Joe was taking in everything around him the Crook had made his way back into the room full of cages. He grabbed a chain handle from the side of the room and pulled it. The metal gate began to drag down again, cutting out the room. "In the Arena!" he finished, and the gate slammed shut, sealing Joe of from the cage room.

The room Joe was now trapped in wasn't very big but was large enough to have several storage boxes packed into it and still have enough room for easy walking space. Behind Joe was the metal gate heading back to the Cage room with Tom and that large criminal man in, in front of him was another gate, this one made of wooden poles, spaced out enough for Joe to see through. Outside there was a loud chanting and a huge group of men in jackets with buzz cut hair and various piercings sitting on large, variously patterned motorbikes and all of them chanting loudly. Something charged past the gate and Joe recoiled in surprise. He soon realised that it was a Pokémon. The Bikers where making Pokémon battle each other. Joe also noticed a couple of bikers exchanging money and several others placing bets, mainly on the Rhyhorn that was fighting. These people where kidnapping Pokémon and forcing them to fight for money.

"This is sick!" Joe thought to himself. He backed away, feeling nauseous from the idea of such a heinous crime. Then he noticed something on one of crates next to him. He turned to look. On the top crate at chest level was Joe's pokéball belt with four pokéball attached. As Joe saw it he realised that his own belt was indeed missing, but he also noticed Ralph's ball was missing. He looked around the entire room but it wasn't there. He knew he couldn't miss it. He may manage to misplace or mistake on of the others balls but not Ralph's. His was white, not red. Outside the crowd cheered. Joe glanced through the bars quickly to see the Rhyhorn being carried away on its side unconscious. He turned back around and reached out for his belt when there was a sudden thudding on the gates In front of him. Joe swung around again in surprise. One of the gang members was standing in front of it, one hand gripped onto a bar, the other pummelling the gate roughly and loudly. He stopped as Joe turned to see ham and stood with importantly before him.

"Get ready, kid." He told him in a gravelly, low pitched voice. "It's your turn to fight now." He then pointed to Joe's belt that still lay on the crate. "You's only allowed the one into battle, and you's not allowed to help or command it. Them's the rules."

"Where are my friends?" Joe asked seriously.

"Don't you threat none. They're quite safe." The Gang member said, evilly. "We're keeping them hostage till your fight is over. If you win we let you and them go."

"Where are they?" Joe asked again. "Can I see them?" The Gang member shook his head.

"They're with the boss. They aren't going anywhere and neither are you. Now hurry up and choose a Pokémon already." Joe glanced at the belt of four pokéballs.

"These are my own Pokémon, aren't they?" He asked, cautiously. The Gang Member nodded.

"We didn't remove any."

"There was a fifth ball. A white ball, and a giant purple bat with me. You didn't see either did you?" Joe asked.

"I did" The Gang member confirmed. "They's with the boss, too. He's keeping them as a trophy. If you win the fights you may get them back along with your freedom."

"And if I don't?" Joe questioned purposefully.

"Well…" the gang member tilted his head to one side thoughtfully. "You'll see. Now hurry up and choose a stinking Pokémon already. My feet are killing me and the crowd is getting anxious." Joe glanced again at the belt of pokéballs that he owned. As if choosing between four of his own Pokémon wasn't hard enough he didn't know if they were in the right order. He kept them in the order he caught them and there was a high chance those criminals outside switched the order around. But either way he had to make a choice if he was going to stand a chance of escape and freeing the others. He reached out, held the belt in both hands and unclipped the first pokéball on the left. If the balls were still in order then this would be Stings ball and Sting was probably the best choice in this case. He was able to use various attacks which would come in useful if he was facing a fire or flying type Pokémon.

"I'm ready." He said. The Gang member grinned evilly.

"Great!" He grumbled and gripped a lever at the side of the door. He pulled it down with a 'clank' and the wooden door began to raise up. Outside there was a chorus of roaring, violent cheers as the crowd got excited for their next fight of the day. Joe was pushed out from the room and stood nervously at the side of the – for lack of a better word – Arena. The battlefield that had been made wasn't anything special. It was just a ring of motorbikes with a smaller ring inside dug in the dirt. This was supposedly the trainer boundary. Joe stood at the end. At the centre staring at the crowd was a large blue wingless bird. It had a tail and four short spikes atop its head. It waved its two long, webbed clawed arms in the air with excitement and anticipation.

"Golduck! Golduck! Golduck!" the crowd cheered excitedly. The Pokémon waved its arms continuously in an encouraging style, egging the crowd on. It stopped, sensing Joe's presence. Joe gulped as the Pokémon, Golduck, spun around. It had a short duck bill, two small eyes and a red gem on its forehead. It grinned menacingly at Joe, eager to fight again.

"I can win this." Joe whispered encouragingly to himself, trying to keep calm. "I can do this." He looked up again and Saw Ralph tied up behind the crowd next to his friends Winter, Rocky and Tom who also were tied up. Beside them was a tough but royal looking man in fur clothing and wearing many gold chains. Clearly he was the leader of this gang who ran the whole show. Joe clenched his fists and growled angrily. When he got out of this he was going to show him what the Wrath of a very angry purple bat could do. "Yes, I can do this!" he exclaimed and gripped the ball in his hand. He released it into the air and the ball unlocked. Outshot the familiar beam of light and out materialise a small turquoise dinosaur like Pokémon with a large plant bulb on its back. "Pitt?!" Joe exclaimed surprised. "They did swap the balls around!" Pitt stood his ground ready to fight as Golduck readied itself for attack.

Without warning Golduck charged, claws pulled back. Pitt looked to Joe who looked back, helplessly. Golduck arrived in front of him and lashed out with a claw. Pitt rolled aside and butted into its chest, knocking it back mildly. It recovered from the damage and inhaled strongly. It then released a jet of water from its mouth aimed strait at Pitt. The attack landed but had little effect. The water dripped down Pitts skin but he simply shook it off in one shake. While he was busy drying himself again however Golduck lunged again, this time hitting Pitt and scratching him across the face. Pitt recoiled and growled angrily, getting into the energy of the fight.

"Golduck! Golduck! Golduck!" the crowd continued to chant.

"Come on, Pitt." Joe whispered encouragingly. "You can do this. Just use an effective move. Please make the right decision." Without warning Pitt shot several sharp, crescent moon shaped leaves flying in Golducks direction. Golduck however was fast enough to swat most of them away like they were flies. One or two of the leaves however struck it on the side, causing it to flinch slightly. After dodging most of the leaves Golduck then charged its foe, head lowered. Pitt however was ready for this. As Golduck got closer Pitt withdrew his two long vines from his bulb and sent them shooting forward. Roughly they wrapped around Golducks legs and torso. Golduck tried to struggle and pull them off but it was to no avail as Pitt lifted it up into the air. Then Pitt loosened his vines and, like a falling stone, Golduck plummeted to the muddy, grassy ground. Pitt withdrew his vines and yapped happily.

"Yes." Joe exclaimed proudly. "Good work, Pitt." The crowd's roaring quietened down. Their current champion was losing the fight. Golduck pushed itself back up again. It wasn't giving up the fight this early. Angrily it charged again, swiping with its webbed claws. Pitt just zipped backwards out of the way. After Golducks attack stopped Pitt released a small cloud of green dust particles into the air. Joe caught a whiff of the dust as it was dispersed and clenched his nose. The stuff stank like rotten vegetation for some reason. He also realised he was starting to feel a bit sleepy or at the very least tired. The cloud itself started drifting away towards Golduck. It floated over its head like a swarm of tiny insects. It tried to swat the dust away but each particle drifted around its hands as it struck out. It breathed hardly, inhaling many particles as it did so. Suddenly its eyes drooped and it yawned loudly. It swayed and tripped till finally it collapsed to the ground, a blue sleeping pile. The crowd went completely silent. Then there was an outburst of cheers but this time not for their Pokémon.

"Bulbasaur! Bulbasaur! Bulbasaur!" they cheered excitedly. Joe seemed surprised by their sudden change on opinion towards who would win. Their leader seemed to think the same. He clapped his hands together slowly and applauding. He then waved to a couple of the gang members. They quickly dashed onto the battlefield and lifted up the sleeping Golduck in both arms and carried it away. Then another bunch of members walked in dragging in a new Pokémon with them, shrouded with a grey cloak. The cloak was removed to reveal a fat but tall, pink, balloon like Pokémon with long pointy ears and a small whiff of fur on its forehead. It jumped about happily. Joe recognised this Pokémon instantly. He'd seen one before.

"Wigglytuff." He said, remembering the one that one of the elders from Pallet town used to own. That elder had passed away many years ago now but Joe always remembered seeing the two of them around the town. Wigglytuff limbered up ready to fight, then, suddenly, it charged. Pitt decided to use the same tactic as last time and shot out a collection of crescent shaped leaves that flew towards Wigglytuff. To Pitts surprise however Wigglytuff was prepared for a move like this. It bounded forwards and, as the leaves were about to hit it, it jumped high into the air over the leaves. Then, extending its front leg out to attack, it came shooting down, striking Pitt on the head with its extended leg. Pitt was sent skidding backwards across the rough ground till he stopped at Joe's feet. Joe started to reach down to help him out but one of the gang members put an arm in his way.

"No helping out!" He reminded him. Joe clanged his fists with annoyance but held back from attacking the man holding him back. Causing a fight wouldn't help him at this point. He just needed Pitt to keep fighting and hope to win their freedom.

"Come on, Pitt. Come on." He winced, anticipating for the worst. Pitt struggled back to his feet. He wasn't ready to give up just yet. Wigglytuff, however wasn't giving him a chance to get back up. Just as Pitt managed to gain balance on all fours again Wigglytuff would strike him with its small pink hands over and over, pushing him around the ring as he backed off. Soon Pitt decided He's had enough. He used his vines to push Wigglytuff back while at the same time edging further backwards. Then he withdrew his vines and focused all his energy. As he did so the bulb that grew on his back started to glisten with bright wight light. Small green balls of energy built up around it as he storred the solar energy. Wigglytuff charged again, head lowered. Pitt ducked onto his front legs, aiming his bulb directly at Wigglytuffs torso. The light surrounding it disappeared into his body. Then, in a huge burst of energy, Pitt released all the light he had storred, firing out a huge, glowing green beam of light from his bulbs tip. The beam shot out, struck Wigglytuff and passed strait through it, engulfing it in the light. It yelled out in surprise and fear as it disappeared into the glowing green white light. The crowds cheering turned to cries of surprise. Pitt ran out of energy very quickly however. As the beam faded away Wigglytuff could be seen lying on grass that appeared to be growing an alarming rate, completely unconscious. Joe was stunned, the crowd was stunned. Even Pitt was stunned. Then suddenly the crowd burst into cheers again. They threw helmets, pokéballs, gloves, belts and even other Pokémon into the air in celebration of a win. The fights weren't over yet, however. The leader of the gang had watched the entire display that Joe and Pitt had put up. He clapped for silence. The crowd went silent. He stood up from his chair and took several well placed steps forwards.

"Well done, Young master." He said mockingly. "A very well fought battle you gave us now. But one battle against an untrained Pokémon does not give you your freedom. Not even winning against two." He stopped at the edge of the crowd. Reaching for his pocket he pulled out a blue pokéball with two red lines on the top of it. He clenched it in his hand and readied it. "No. To earn that you must defeat my Pokémon." And with that he pulled back his arm and threw the ball high into the air. As it fell back down to earth it burst open and a red beam of light swirled down and formed a shape on the ground. As the light faded the ball clipped shut again and floated back to its owner's hand. The Pokémon that now stood where the light hit was tall and jagged with a rough pale green exoskeleton. Its legs were long and thin with bulky feet and knees that stuck out. It had two long thin arms with scythe shaped tips at the end, as well as two insect wings on its back. Its head was relatively small in comparison with the rest of its body but the most notable feature on it where the two large beady red eyes that sat above its thin, pointing jaw. It roared out in excitement at a chance to battle.

"Scyther, deal with them!" The leader commanded of his Pokémon. Scyther nodded responsively and jumped forward, claw raised to slash down at Pitt.

Meanwhile Team Ace had seen the fiasco happening from afar and had made the clever decision to try and sneak around. However this had proved tougher then they'd expected and they'd ended up crawling underneath the stands that had been set up.

"Ouch!" Frank whispered angrily. "Ross you're sticking your boot in my face."

"Frank, give me some space to move." Ross complained quietly. They continued to hiss at each other. Ruby grunted annoyed and looked back at her two companions.

"Be quiet you two. We're right underneath their boss' chair." She hissed.

"I'll be quiet when Frank decides to budge up!" Ross snapped.

"And I'll budge up when you take your foot out of my face!" Frank Snapped back. Ruby sighed angrily. How she was supposed to run this team she didn't know. It wasn't easy controlling two men with the intellectual capacity of a dumb Psyduck with a chronic headache and not a single working brain cell working between them. She looked up and saw that one of the wooden planks was loose. She raised a hand to stop the others behind her.

"I think I've found a way up" She told them.

"About time." Frank exclaimed and slid his gelatinous body up towards her.

"Go up and look for us would you." Ruby instructed.

"Roger that." Frank said, mockingly. He stretched upwards, squeezed through the gap and relaxed. He took a quick look around but saw no one else nearby. "All clear." He whispered down.

"Good." Ruby replied. "Then let's get going." Frank exclaimed in surprise as the wooden plank he stood on was lifted up and pushed aside. He jumped of just before the plank landed on top of him. Ruby silently pushed herself out of the hole and slid across the wooden top. Ross followed suit and slid the plank back over the gap.

"Where are we exactly?" Ross asked. The trio looked around.

"Looks like the boss' chair." Frank told them. "And I'm guessing that's the boss over there." He pointed towards the tall royal like man in fur clothing and chains. The man had just sent a Pokémon into battle.

"Looks like he is to me." Ruby agreed. Ross however wasn't looking at the man in the furs. He was looking at the other trainer on the far side of the field.

"Who's that?" He asked. "I think I know him." They all looked at him. Joe was busy trying to command Pitt. Because the battle had now become a proper Pokémon battle he'd been given permission to command Pitt but he still wasn't allowed to use potions.

"Pitt, use Tackle!" He instructed. Pitt charged in to attack.

"Slash!" the leader commanded. Scyther simply swatted Pitt away like a fly with one claw. Ruby gasped in realisation.

"Wait a second. That's Joe. That trainer we've been running into time and time again."

"Of yeah." Frank realised. "It is."

"What's he doing getting involved with these kind of people?" Ross questioned.

"No Idea." Ruby told them. "But it might be in our best interest to help out."

"What?" Frank asked, surprised by Ruby's talk of helping someone.

"Why?" Ross asked. "He's probably getting what was coming to him." Ruby turned around sharply and looked seriously at her two companions.

"Look you boneheads." She hissed. "If we help out now and get our annoying 'friend' out of this situation then he might reward us for doing so. It would also give us the chance to get closer to him and possibly steal away one of his rare Pokémon while he's not looking." She gave the two of them a sarcastic expression. "Though I doubt we should bother with you two being champion trainers, Right?" Ross and Frank looked at each other then back to Ruby. They sighed quietly.

"You've made your point." Frank told her. Ruby smiled importantly.

"Good." She said happily. As she shuffled to turn around she knocked into the large wooden seat that was next to them and it moved slightly and began to tip. In a whir of movement Ross grabbed the chairs side legs and held it still, stopping it from falling over. Luckily for them the leader hadn't noticed his chair moving. Neither had any of the gang members. Ross, Ruby and Frank all released a sigh of relief. "Thank the lord for your quick reflexes, Ross" Ruby laughed. There was a sudden thud from the other side of the chair. Ross, Ruby and Frank all looked at each other in confusion and surprise. Curious, Ruby poked her head around the side. On the other side of the chair she could see a large purple mound tied up in a large bundle of rope knocking its head against the chair leg. Ruby laughed to herself and looked back at her companions. "Well that's what happened to his Pokémon." She laughed.

Pitt desperately tried to evade the multiple slashes and strikes Scyther made yet every time he did Scyther would just attack faster and more viciously. Pitt would roll out of the way of one claw only to be struck by the other coming from the other direction. In desperation Pitt lashed out with his vine whips, wrapping them around Scyther's arms and chest, squeezing them together and stopping him from attacking. This didn't last long, however as Scyther struggled and bust out of his grip. As Pitt tried to react Scyther struck out with a razor sharp sickle arm and cut strait through both of Pitts vines. Pitt screamed in immense pain and retracted his vines. He placed the sliced tips in his mouth in an attempt to sooth the pain and stop the bleeding.

"Pitt!" Joe cried. "Hold on, buddy. We can still do this. We just need to find a way of weakening it over time." Then an idea occurred to Joe. He remembered teaching Pitt a move a couple of days ago that may help him out during the fight. He smirked and gritted his teeth. "Pitt, use Leech Seed!" He commanded. Pitt looked back at him, his vines still in his mouth. He nodded, gathering moral and spat the vines out of his mouth and retracted them back into his giant bulb. Then, taking a deep breath, Pitt spat out a large collection of small, brownish green seeds. The seeds sailed through the air and strait towards Scyther. It swiped at the seeds as the passed with one claw but instead of nocking it away the seed stuck fast and buried itself there. Scyther looked at it confused and tried to shake it off. The seed would not budge. A small sprout burst out of the top of the seed and a small clump of roots leeched themselves into its skin. Scythers eyes widened in surprise. Another several seeds tapped into Scyther, each sticking where they hit. One even hit its eyebrow and cover its entire right eye with swollen skin and bulb. Scyther cried out in pain and then in rage. Its one eye that could be seen glistened red with the purest anger. It charged at Pitt, lashed out and knocked him flying sideways before anyone could even blink. Pitt struggled to his feet but found a small foot pressing down on its head, keeping him pinned to the floor. He struggled and squirmed as Scyther laughed evilly. It turned back to its master, waiting for the command. The gang leader nodded. Scyther grinned and raised a claw. "No!" Joe cried out, but there was nothing he could do. Scyther was intent on killing Pitt. In a sudden blur it brought its claw down at lightning speed aimed at Pitt's neck. Then, suddenly, Scyther recoiled in pain as if something had just struck it. The seeds that had stuck to it were taking effect. As its health was sapped it lost concentration and stepped back, freeing Pitt. Pitt took full advantage of this and rammed in in the chest knocking it over. He then proceeded to lash the winded Scyther with his vines. Scyther toppled over and Pitt's vines wrapped around its legs and pulled it over.

"What are you doing?!" the Gang Leader exclaimed angrily. "Get up and finished the job."

"Good work Pitt." Joe laughed, ecstatic that his friend still had the strength to win. Pitt stood strait and ready to fight. He roared defensively as the crowd began to cheer again. They were cheering for him. "We can win this now." Joe exclaimed. Then, to everyone's surprise, Pitt started glowing. His skin glistened with bright white light. Pitt looked at himself in surprise as his outline faded into the light. The light grew out in size and brightness till it was almost blinding. And then the light faded away in a split second. Where Pitt had been standing was a new Pokémon. This Pokémon was almost exactly the same as Pitt but had a few differences. It was bigger, had a darker turquoise skin and was twice the size. The newly evolved Ivysaur looked down at its legs in surprise. It then looked up and smiled. Pitt was very impressed by his new body. He felt a new strength inside him. The strength that comes with a stronger evolution form.

"What on Earth did I just witness?" Frank asked as he tried untying Ralph's binds. All three of them where rather glad to have finally got hold of him. Ralph on the other hand was less happy about the reunion. Team Ace had paused when they saw the sudden turn of the tide for Joe. They also witnessed Pitt evolving into Ivysaur with amazement.

"I do believe we just saw an evolution." Ross said. Frank sighed.

"Why is it every time we run into this guy he either evolve a Pokémon or catches a new one?" He asked, annoyed.

"Just hurry up and untie them already." Ruby commanded. Team Ace had also found Joe's friends tied up and gagged with Ralph and were currently doing their best to free them.

"Why are you helping us?" Winter asked as Ruby removed her gag.

"Well you'd do the same for us wouldn't you? So we feel it only necessary to lend a hand." She lied through her teeth.

"Well we're grateful and all that you turned up…" Tom added as his gag was removed "But this doesn't make us friends. You guys caused problems for us since we started."

"Yeah yeah." Ross mocked. "We get it. We're bad guys because we tried to steal your Pokémon. Like we're the only ones."

"Just get us out of here." Rocky complained.

"Hold on just one sec." Ruby told her. "Just got to cut this bit and…" There was a sudden flash of purple as Ralph broke free of his bind, struck Frank over and pinned him to the floor. He growled and bared his teeth as Frank whimpered underneath his strong wing.

"Hey, Hey. Get off of me!" He cried in fear.

"Ralph, It's ok. They're helping us." Winter told him. Ralph looked over to her and, reluctantly, released his grip on Frank. Frank rolled aside and scuttled away from him as fast as he could. Suddenly something crashed beside them in a clutter of broken wood and dust. All six of them turned around at the same time and stared in shock and surprise.

"What on earth was that?" Ruby exclaimed.

Down in the ring the fight had taken a turn for the best for Joe and Pitt. His attacks were now twice as strong, meaning whenever he tackled Scyther he sent it flying backwards rather than just knocking it back. He also was able to take Scythers attacks better so Scyther could do very little to hurt it. The gang leader gazed on absolutely amazed at how badly it was now going for him.

"Finish him already!" He shouted furiously. Scyther lunged forward again. Pitt drew in sunlight and released another powerful green light beam that struck Sycther in the chest and sent it flying into the stands. It crashed with a cloud of dust and splinters besides the rest of the crew who stared in surprise. All six of them looked down into the ring to see a large green light beam heading in their direction.

"Move!" Winter cried as they all dived aside just in time. The beam destroyed the entire stand. The crowd of gangs scattered as wooden plank and dust scattered around them. As the rubble settled the arena fell completely silent. A green claw burst out of the rubble and Scyther Stood onto its feet. It was injured and tired but it was still going to fight. It roared and charged, claws spread out. Pitt raised its flower at Scyther and fired a final beam of energy. As the energy faded Scyther could be seen on its knees. It groaned and collapsed to the floor completely out of energy.

"This… Isn't… Possible!" The gang leader exclaimed in fear and surprise. "How… How…?" He turned and ran. He didn't get far however. His foot caught on a piece of rubble and he fell forwards onto his leg.

Winter brushed the rubble and dust off of her clothes. They were lucky that the falling stands hadn't crushed any of them. Ralph of course was the least hurt as he just flew over the rubble.

"Well I don't know who's going to clean up this mess." Ruby commented. "But it's not going to be us." Tom turned unhappily to the trio of Aces.

"I'll assume you're just going to run off as usual." He asked, sarcastically.

"Yeah." Frank agreed. "It's what we do after these events. Stops us doing the cleaning up so to speak." Ralph rolled his eyes.

"But don't worry. I can imagine you'll see us again." Ruby added. And with that they were off into the distance.

Joe and Pitt stood over the Gang Leader angrily. Hatred burning in his eyes. Pitt readied another beam attack to finish him.

"Please! Don't!" The Leader Pleaded in fear. "Have mercy!" Joe shook his head.

"You stole Pokémon away and forced them to battle even to the death if necessary. You don't deserve mercy!" He exclaimed furiously. Pitt readied to release the solar beam. Then Joe sighed and held out an arm to stop Pitt. "No. I will not fall as low as you, even if you deserve it." Pitt looked at him confused by his choice but he did not attempt to act by himself. The Leader crawled backwards and ran away into the distance. Joe sighed, glad that that experience was over.

"Joe!" he heard a chorus of shouts from the distance. He turned to see Winter, Rocky, Ralph and Tom shouting and waving from the distance. He smiled and waved back. They joined each other in congratulations.

"Amazing battle." Tom exclaimed.

"I have never seen such power before." Rocky told him.

"But are you both ok?" Winter asked.

"I'm fine." Joe told her. "And I'm sure that Pitt is doing well, right buddy?" He said, turning to his Ivysaur. Pitt nodded happily.

"Let's get out of here before anyone else comes along." Rocky added. "Things might get ugly."

"We should free all the caged Pokémon first." Winter told them. "It's the least we can do to help. They can find their own way home from here I'd imagine."

"I also need to grab the rest of my team and my stuff." Joe added. "They moved all of it when they caged me." This wasn't tough. The Gangs had simply placed his bag on a crate at the back. As for his belt it was where it had been left. The cages too were easy to open from the outside. All they needed where the keys which the guard had dropped when he escaped.

"There they go." Winter smiled as they watched all of the caged Pokémon running free from their cages. "I just hope they all make it home safely."

"I imagine they would." Rocky told her. "Pokémon have very good instincts."

"Well it's been nice meeting you all again but I should be heading off." Tom told them "I have a date with the S.S Falcon in Vermilion and I intend to make it before it sets off."

"You got tickets to travel on a Cruise Ship?" Joe asked surprised.

"Reward for delivering Professor Oaks parcel." Tom told them. "He gave me three extras should I want to take family with me. But both my parents are traveling in Johto right now with my younger brother." Suddenly he had an idea. "You three wouldn't want to join me would you?" He asked. The trio looked at each other and all of them nodded in agreement.

"Of course!" all three of them answered.


	11. Chapter 11: Cruise at Vermillion

Storm clouds had form by the time Vermilion city was visible. Tiny droplets had begun to drizzle down as the clouds got closer. Joe held his jumper over his head to protect him from the oncoming rain. Ralph, too tucked himself underneath (or rather as much of him that would fit inside the jumper). Winter had pulled an orange and pink umbrella out from her bag and she, Tom and Rocky were all doing their best to huddle underneath and run at the same time. Lightning struck somewhere nearby and a swarm of terrified pidgey scattered from the trees around the area it hit. Ralph jumped in fear underneath Joe's jumper. Even though he himself was not a bird he was a flying type and had a natural fear of loud bang noises and huge flashing lights.

"You ok, Ralph." Joe asked kindly, looking back at his companion. Ralph was shivering but managing to keep his cool.

"We're nearly there." Winter called to him. "We might make it before it gets too bad." As if on cue the light drizzle turned into a full downpour. Joe quickly found his jumper was doing little to protect him as it was left a drenched paper towel in his hands. As they reached the city they sped up, desperate to get out of the rain as quickly as possible. They passed the Pokémon centre but did not stop. They were already late as it is. They needed to get on the S.S. Falcon before they lifted the ramp up and the ship set off. As they ran into town they could see where they needed to go. The S.S. Falcon itself was a huge cruise ship with at least 10 different decks on the entire thing. The front was long with a mast shaped like a Fearow's head and folded in wings. Apart from the mast everything about the ship looked modern. It had a steel shell, an engine which could be heard for miles and a large propeller on the back that stuck out slightly above the water. At the bridge that led into the ship from the dock stood a sailor with a small electronic machine that had a thin red laser pointing out in a straight line. He was waving up at another sailor standing inside the ship entrance, clearly indicating for him to lift the ramp up. The second sailor nodded and went for a small lever on the side of the wall.

"They're setting off." Rocky noted.

"Wait!" Tom shouted out. "Wait for us!" all four of them sped up, in an attempt to make it on time but it started to become clear they weren't going to make it. In a desperate attempt Ralph grabbed Joe by the collar with his teeth, scooped up the other three in his wings and sped forward towards the ship. Just as the ramp began to lift Ralph dropped the four of them in front of the sailor outside. The sailor held a hand out to the other sailor, commanding him to stop. Tom, shaking himself dry, handed the four tickets to the sailor who took them from him. The sailor then took out his device and scanned each of the cards in turn. He then pulled out a small hole puncher and clipped the right top side of each. He then handed them back and pointed them inside. They all nodded in thanks and ran up the now lowered ramp and inside into the dry. Just as the sailor was about to command the ramp be lifted again another two trainers ran up and handed out two more tickets. The sailor sighed and took the tickets. He pulled out his gadget and tried scanning them but to his surprise the machine didn't recognise them. He tried tapping it against his palm and the machine buzzed. The two trainers that had handed the tickets over looked to each other worriedly. The sailor tried scanning them again. This time the machine recognised the cards and gave out a small 'ping' of success. The sailor pulled out his hole puncher again and clipped the first ticket. He then looked surprised. He was sure that when he punched the ticket he heard a small yelp of pain. He then shock his head and clipped the second ticket. This time he didn't hear a yelp so dismissed it as a figment of his imagination. He handed the tickets back and the two trainers ran inside. The sailor then finally lifted the ramp and the ship began setting sail.

"That was a close call, Ruby" the first trainer said to the second.

"Damn right it was, Ross." The second trainer agreed. "No thanks to Frank almost giving us away." She looked down angrily at the tickets in here hand.

"I'm sorry." Said a disembodied voice, apparently coming from the tickets themselves. "But getting a hole punctured into you is rather painful, even if you're made of gelatinous regenerating flesh."

"Well at least keep quiet about it." Ruby hissed angrily. "We're trying to remain undetected remember."

"Don't worry about that." Frank told her. "I have a brilliant disguise" The tickets suddenly glowed and changed shape, becoming tall and humanoid. A third trainer stood in front of them, Frank's human form. He had a darker skin then his friends with pointed red hear and bright yellow eyes and a perfect white smile. He too wore the red uniform and black gloves and boots that Ross and Ruby wore with the Ace of Spades card printed on the front of his shirt. "What'd'ya think?" he asked dramatically. Ross and Ruby looked at him nonchalantly.

"Bit flash and obvious don't you think?" Ross asked. Frank looked deflated.

"You don't like it then."

"Why the Ace of Spades?" Ruby asked him curiously.

"Because." Frank replied.

"That's not an answer." Ross argued. "You can't just say because, because."

"I can say because, because." Frank argued.

"No you can't."

"Yes I can."

"Stop it you two!" Ruby snapped. Both Frank and Ross quickly shut up and turned to face her. She took a deep breathe to calm herself down. "You need to wear something less conspicuous. Something that won't stand out like a gyarados in a bunch of magikarp." Frank sighed sadly and began glowing again. When it stopped his clothes were that of a common teenage boy. A jacket, jeans, sneakers and red t-shirt.

"How's this then?" he asked, sadly. Ross and Ruby looked him up and down and smiled.

"Perfect" Ruby told him. "You look completely inconspicuous."

"What was it you wanted me to do again exactly?" Frank asked. Ruby sighed. She thought that her team would know by now what they needed to do without being asked. It amazed her how slow they could be sometimes.

"You are supposed to keep an eye on that trainer, his friends and, most importantly, his Pokémon. Get close to them, make them feel you're not a threat, then when no one's looking net that bat and bring it to us."

"Why do I have to do this?" Frank moaned.

"Because you're the only one of the three of us who can change shape."

"But I'm sure if we put Ross in a different uniform and gave him a hear cut…"

"Just Do It!" Ruby yelled. Frank backed up surprised.

"Ok!" He yelped. "OK. I'll do it."

Joe currently sat in one of the dining rooms drinking a bottle of lemonade and sitting at a four person table. The others weren't around at the moment. Winter had gone to the ships swimming pool to relax. Rocky apparently had gone to take a walk along the deck with his Pokémon. Tom had been with Joe and they had been spending time catching up but they had heard an announcement about a Battle competition on the forth deck and he'd gone to sign the two of them in for the competition. Ralph on the other hand… well Joe never saw where he flew off to and knowing him he could be anywhere. Joe didn't worry about that however. He knew from experience that Ralph didn't get lost easily. He took another sip of his drink. Someone sat down at the table.

"Enjoying the trip?" they asked. Joe looked up. Rocky was sitting right in front of him, his friendly machop, Chopper was standing next to him, waving a jovial hand. Joe smiled and waved back.

"How was the walk around the decks?" Joe asked him. Rocky shifted his head.

"Interesting." He told him. "We bumped into Ralph up there. He seemed to be on the lookout, possibly watching something. But I imagine it's nothing to worry about." He looked around. "Where's your friend?" he asked.

"Who, Tom?" Joe asked. "He's gone to fourth deck to sign us into a battling competition." He explained.

"I didn't know there was a battle tournament, let alone a battling deck." Rocky told him.

"Neither did I." Joe agreed "There was an announcement about 10 minutes ago now. They said it's happening at 5pm this afternoon. Would be worth the time don't you think?"

"Would give us something to do I guess" Rocky agreed. Chopper tapped him on the shoulder and patted his stomach hungrily. Rocky pulled out a loaf of bread and ripped off a piece, handing it to the hungry machop. Chopper grabbed it and took a big bite.

"If you don't mind…" Rocky started to ask cautiously. "Can I just ask...? How did you and Winter meet? I mean you told us how you and Ralph met and that you and Tom have known each other since you were kids but you and Winter never said anything about your meeting and it's clear that you've only known each other for a short time."

"Well it's kind of embarrassing actually." Joe told him. "Me and Ralph had just set off from Pallet town and reached Viridian City when I tripped and fell down the hill. Winter just happened to be in the way and she and I collided. Ralph and her Staryu were knocked unconscious so we took them to the Pokémon centre. It just so happened that at that point the Pokémon centre was attacked by team rocket. They locked us in a janitor's cupboard but we worked as a team and broke out. While I took care of the grunts she called the police in to arrest them and take them away. After that we decided to team up and travel through viridian forest which is where I caught Sting and Pippy, as well as bump into Tom for the first time in ages. We also came across Team Ace for the first time which, obviously, didn't start us off well. Then we reached Pewter City which is where you joined us of course."

"Yes, I remember that part." Rocky laughed. "I was there, after all." Joe laughed too.

"Yes I do remember too." He told him. Tom arrived, a big beaming smile on his face.

"We got in." He told them, arriving at their table. "All four of us have a place in the tournament."

"Really." Joe asked in surprise. "I was expecting it to be full really quickly."

"No, we both got places." Tom told him. "According to the rules we need one Pokémon for the battles. Most of the battles will be single except for the semi-finals which will be doubles. Apparently, they partner you with one of the other finalists. We also need to give in our names when we turn up. We also can't use items during battles, but apart from that we can use any Pokémon and any tactics we want."

"That's great." Rocky told him. "I'll join you. Do they still have places left?"

"They should." Tom told him. Rocky and Chopper looked at each other and grinned.

"I'd better go find Ralph." Joe told them. "So I Can tell him the good news."

"What about Winter?" Tom asked.

"I imagine she's doing training with her own Pokémon right now." Rocky told him.

"Right." Tom understood. "Oh, by the way, if you're going looking for Ralph I saw him perched out on the front of the ship." He told Joe.

"Thanks." Joe said and got up to go find his close friend.

He did find Ralph sitting on the guard railing of the top deck looking down at the lower decks. He appeared to be searching for something. Joe walked up to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. Ralph spun around, unaware that he had been snuck up on and nearly lashed out till he saw who it was who snuck up on him. Joe jumped back I surprise. "It's ok." He told him calmingly "It's just me." Ralph pulled back his wing and calmed down. "What are you doing out here." Joe asked him curiously. Ralph shrugged and then held a wing above his eyes like a pair of binoculars. "You saw something?" Joe asked. Ralph nodded then pointed down at the far off end of the abandoned lower deck. Joe leaned over the railing and looked himself. "I don't see anything." Joe told him. Ralph placed his left wing on Joes shoulder and pulled him to where he was standing. He then pointed at the lower deck again. Joe squinted his eyes trying to find what Ralph had seen. "What is it I'm supposed to be looking for?" He asked. Ralph rolled his eyes and pointed to the deck itself. "You want me to go down there and look?" Joe asked. Ralph nodded vigorously. Joe turned on his heels and ran inside and down the metal stairs to the lower deck. Ralph took off and hovered in the air above the metal floor. Joe ran up to Ralph and looked around. "So what is it you want me to see?" Joe asked again. Ralph pointed strait in front of him at a wall near the end of the deck. Joe squinted and held a hand over his eyes trying to find what Ralph had spotted. And then he noticed something he didn't see before. At the far end of the deck was an air vent. The vent covering was hanging at an angle as if a couple of the screws keeping it in place had fallen out. "Now that's unusual." Joe thought to himself. An air vent hanging like that would be unusual anywhere else but on a ship this big with this many people on board and the amount of engineers it would have taken to build it and keep it working… a broken vent was something you wouldn't find hanging around without someone in charge noticing beforehand. Joe walked closer to it, Ralph following in suit. As they got closer he could see something black curled up inside the vent. It looked at first like some kind of animal but there was no signs of movement or even breathing. Joe eased closer and grabber the side of the loose vent. Slowly and carefully he lifted up the vent grate. He and Ralph looked at each other, questions rolling around in their heads. Joe reached forwards and grabbed the black thing by an arm. He pulled back expecting it to come alive but to his surprise and relief the black thing just crumpled forwards into a pile. Joe reached in again, grabbed the thing by the leg and turned it over. He let out a sigh of relief. "It's just some black overalls" He laughed pulling out a set of smooth black coloured overalls by the arm and holding it for Ralph to see. He did not laugh, nor smile. "And to think I was worried it would come alive." Joe joked, still laughing. "Who does this belong to then?" He wandered aloud and turned the coat around for him to look at properly. As he did so his smile faded from his face to be replaced by shock and annoyance. On the front of the overalls was a large red R. "Team Rocket." Joe sighed, sadly. Whenever the Rockets turned up there was always trouble. "Should've known they'd turn up again." He looked back inside and noticed the stereotypical black Rocket cap, gloves and boots. There were at least or seven separate uniforms inside. "But if their uniforms are in here…" He deducted. "Then that means…" He stopped, realising something very serious was going on. "That means that they could be anyone on this ship." He turned seriously to Ralph. "We should inform the captain." He slung the uniforms back inside the vent and was about to screw it shut properly when someone shouted out his name from afar.

"Joe. Come on. The competition's starting." Tom called out to him from the deck above.

"Just wait a second, Tom." Joe called back. "We've found something the security will need to see."  
"It's going to have to wait." Tom told him quickly, as if he was in a rush. "If we don't get there now we'll be disqualified." And with that he ran back inside. Joe looked desperately back at the vent, then at the stairs, and then back to the vent.

"Oh come on!" he exclaimed, turning for the stairs. "We'll come back for this later" he told Ralph as he ran. Ralph followed closely, taking a quick look back at the vent of rocket uniforms. Something told him that they wouldn't be there when they got back.

Joe stood outside on the cold decks again. It was 7:30 at night and the temperature had made a huge drop. He had just returned from the battle competition and what a competition it was. He, Tom and Rocky had turned up to find all but three of the places filled. They waited in line for their turn to sign in. The trainer if front was having a bit of trouble.

"Sir, just fill in your name here." The administrator said.

"Ok, hold on." The trainer said, swiping his deep red hair from his eyes.

"Do you have a name, sir?" The administrator asked, sarcastically. The trainer gave him an annoyed look.

"Yes I do, thank you very much!" He replied, rather annoyed at the administrators was asking so many questions.

"Then what is it?" The administrator asked.

"Hold on." The trainer told him again. He thought for a second. "Frank." He finally told the administrator.

"I need your surname too, sir." The administrator told him. The trainer thought again.

"Uh… um…Dit…uh…On." He finally said.

"Diton?" The Administrator asked.

"Yes, that's right." The trainer told him unsurely, smiling through perfect teeth.

"Ok then, let me write that down." The administrator took out a pen and began jotting down some words. He then looked up and nodded. "You can go in now."

"Oh, can I? Thank you very much." The trainer – Frank – said and shot through the doorway to the right.

"Next." The administrator called. Joe stepped forward.

"Name?" He asked

"Joe." Joe replied.

"Full Name?" The Administrator asked again. Joe gulped nervously.

"Joseph Glende" Joe told him.

"How do you spell that?" The administrator asked, looking up at him.

"J-o-s-e-p-h, G-l-e-n-d-e" Joe told him. The administrator nodded in understanding and began writing down on his paper.

"Ok. Now what Pokémon will you be using?" He asked.

"A Charmander" Joe told him. He'd decided to give Cinders a bit of time to fight with him as Joe hadn't been able to use him since he caught him.

"Does it have a nickname?" the Administrator asked.

"Yes. He's called Cinders." Joe told him. The administrator began writing again.

"Charmander, Cinders." He said aloud as he wrote down the details. "Ok then. You can go in now." He told him finally.

"Thank you." Joe said and ran through the doors.

After that point it had all been simple. Once everyone was inside the administrator gave them the rules and sorted out all the fight. All of the fights Joe had were easy. A Bellsprout, a Clefairy, A Magikarp (Which Joe had no idea how it had got that Far.), A Ekans, A Growlithe and even a Pidgeotto wasn't able to beat them, although it was a close call. Finally they were at the semi-finals and, in some strange chance he was against both Rocky and Tom. His team mate meanwhile had been the trainer in front of him in the queue. The one who couldn't remember his own name. Tom was using his Spearow which he'd caught during the event at Viridian Forest while Rocky was using his Onix, Crash. Frank, meanwhile was using a tiny crab Pokémon called Krabby which had been nicknamed "Crabby". Joe couldn't decide whether this nickname was very clever or very stupid. He managed to deal some strong damage to Tom's spearow but he knew he would have been destroyed if "Crabby" hadn't taken care of Crash with its bubble attack. The Semi-finals were over relatively quickly and it was now Joe verses the strange trainer, Frank. This final battle was actually incredibly quick. Crabby used vice grip which Cinders dodged and then struck it with a simple scratch… and that was it. The fight was over and Joe had won the competition. If there had been a crowd He would have basked in their cheers. But as it was there was no crowd and that battle had been 10 minutes ago. Ralph had wrapped his wings around his body in an attempt to keep warm while using his smaller lower wings to stay afloat. This did however lead to him hanging upside down in mid-air. In front of them a couple of security guards were searching the vent that Joe had found the uniforms in. The guards had asked them to stand back just in case. Another guard had just given them news that really confused and surprised him.

"What do you mean there's nothing in there?!" Joe asked, angry and absolutely baffled.

"Sorry kid but we couldn't find any trace of Team Rocket anywhere." The guard told him. "Is it possible you imagined it?" Joe stared at him in completely amazement.

"I'm telling you it was in there. A black jumpsuit with a red R on the front with a black wool hat and boots. I know they were there. Ralph saw them too." Ralph nodded in agreement.

"To be perfectly honest I don't know if what you say is true or not." The Guard told him truthfully "The best we can do is keep an eye out for any shifty characters or anyone missing a black jumpsuit. Now you should be heading back to your cabin. It'll be dark soon and we don't want you out in the cold all night."

Joe collapsed onto his bed exhausted. He had no idea what had happened to the rocket uniform but it **had** been there. The only thing he could think of was that the uniform had been taken by some of the rocket members. No one else knew it was there but him and Ralph. But currently he was too exhausted to think about it. The fighting and the cold had sapped most of his strength. Ralph too was exhausted and he had slumped down on the sofa at the side of the room. There was a sudden knock on the door. Both Joe and Ralph shot up.

"Who is it?" Joe called.

"It's me." Winter called from behind the door.

"Come in. the door's not locked." Joe told her, sitting up on the bed. The door creaked open and Winter walked into the room. Her hair was wet and tangled, indicating she must have only just arrived back in her cabin as well.

"I heard about you winning the battle competition." She told him. "I just wanted to say congrats."

"Thanks." Joe said. "What have you been doing then?" He asked.

"Just training in the pool." Winter told him. "Gave my team a bit of energy, you know." Joe nodded in understanding. She sat down beside him on the bed.

"Can I ask you something?" Joe asked.

"Sure." Winter replied.

"Ok then." Joe thought for a second. "Who was it you visited in Cerulean?" He asked finally.

"It's kind of personal." She told him.

"I won't tell anyone." Joe promised her. "I won't laugh either." Winter took a deep breath.

"When I was a child I was abandoned by my parents. They ran off and left me with my grandmother. She was a kind old lady but very ill. I spent my first few years having to take care of her. She passed away 4 years ago. Old age took her. She was buried in Cerulean cemetery and I visit her when I can."

"Is that why you came with us?" Joe asked.

"Partially." Winter replied. "After she passed away I was taken in by Ceruleans gym leader at the time. She gave me a home and trained me to use water Pokémon for battling. One of the other trainers she was teaching was Misty. She was a couple of years older than me but we got along quite well. When the gym leader retired Misty took her place. Then she went on her travels with some over trainer whose name I forget and left her student in charge. I was angry at the time but to be honest I'm now glad she didn't put me up to that task. I wouldn't have been cut out for it." She sighed sadly. "Misty was kind to me. She treated me well and helped my get over my grandmothers passing. Before you battled with her I went to visit her at her house. That's why I went back to Cerulean. We hadn't seen each other since she returned. I told her all about meeting you and Ralph and Rocky and she said it reminded her of her adventures with her friends. She said some things that really made me think about our friendship."

"Well that answered that question for me." Joe told her. "I hope you don't take this the wrong way but, why did you decide to come with us still." Winter looked away. "I mean you were back home in Cerulean with your friends and family. Why decide to follow someone you hardly know on a journey around an entire continent?"

Winter thought for a second. "I don't know to be honest." She admitted. "Because of the company. Because of the traveling. But mainly because I've actually got to know you properly and to understand you as a person." She went quiet for second. "When we first met I didn't like you as you probably noticed. I thought you were some pompous Rick Kid with a rare Pokémon he didn't even care about. But during the event at the Pokémon centre with Team Rocket I saw that I was wrong. You do care for your Pokémon. That's more than can be said for a lot of trainers now a days. Team Rocket are a perfect example of that." She clapped her hands together, trying to come up with what to say. "I have enjoyed our travels you know." She said eventually. "I didn't hang around for free protection or to cause problems or even to use you as a bank for buying items. I genuinely enjoy your company, and Ralphs, and Rocky's and Toms. I like you guys. You're all good people who try and help people they meet. I also learned a lot in this journey just to here. I never knew that you could win against an Onix with a flying type. I also didn't know what a Crobat was before I met you, much less you could find one in Kanto of all places."

"I'm not too sure what you're trying to say." Joe told her, honestly. Winter struggled with what she was going to say, twisting her hands around on her lap.

"What I mean is that I decided to join you because I wanted to make friends and learn more about this world." She sighed. "I may act all smart around the group but I know less about this world then I let on. I Was in Viridian to learn about this kind of stuff which is when I bumped into you." She turned to see Joe's none understanding expression. She shook a hand. "Forget it." She said simply. "I'm going to my room. See you in the morning." She got off from the bed and walked to the door. Before she left she turned back and waved a hand to Joe. "Goodnight" she said. He raised his hand and waved back.

"Goodnight." He said back as she stepped out of the room. He turned back round and saw Ralph looking at him with a questioning frown on his face.

"What are you looking at me like that for?" He asked. Ralph just continued to stare at him. He raised an inquisitive eyebrow. "What?" Joe asked again. Then he shook a dismissive hand. "Never mind. Just go to sleep, will you." Ralph shrugged and rolled onto his side and fell asleep on the sofa. Joe slid himself up the bed, pulled over the sheets and fell into a deep sleep.

7 hours passed by. The ship was now completely silent. The Pokétch clock on Joe's wrist beeped 3:58 AM. There was a quiet tapping sound, like a mouse running down a corridor and a door creaked open slowly. A head popped around the door to Joe's room. His pointed red hear curled around the door edge, his beady yellow eyes looked around for signs of movement. He noticed something man sized and purple twitching around on the sofa and he smiled.

"This is the room." Frank whispered to himself. Carefully he sneaked inside and crept towards the sleeping Crobat on the sofa. A floorboard creaked and Frank stopped still. He looked around towards the bed but no one had stirred. He sighed thankfully and crept forward again. Slowly he reached the sofa and Ralphs sleeping form. He stopped, kneeling beside the sofa. "Hello again, old friend." Frank taunted quietly to himself. He pulled out a small plastic net and – at the click of a button – it grew 10 times in size, becoming big enough to snatch up a full sized man in one swoop. "It's time to cage you up where you belong." He said evilly and gripped the net tight. He raised the net above his head and at that precise moment Joe's Pokétch bleeped, signalling a new hour. Frank swung the net down and… The room jolted to the right. The entire ship shook in a furious tempest. In a serious amount of surprise Frank shot forwards head first and crashed strait into Ralph, knocking them both off the sofa and into the large window on the right side of the room. Joe shot up in surprise and gripped the sides of the bed.

"What the!" He exclaimed at the top of voice, trying not to fall over. The entire room shook like an earthquake and Joe could feel himself being pushed to the right. Ralph woke up suddenly as Frank crashed into him and crushed him against the window. He squinted and pushed back, trying to get him of him. Then, as suddenly as it had happened, the ship stopped shaking and Ralph and Frank dropped back to the floor.

"What on earth was that?" Joe asked, still in shock. He looked over to Ralph lying on the floor and, finally, noticed Frank crushed underneath him. "What on earth is he doing in here?" He shouted. Frank looked up, saw Joe looking at him and moaned something which sounded like…

"Oh crap." Frank pushed himself up, pushed Ralph away and shot for the door.

"Stop him!" Joe cried, leaping out of the bed and running after him. Ralph took off after him like a speeding missile. Frank burst through the door, turned right and shot down the corridor. Ralph appeared just after him, looked around, saw the escaping trainer and flew after him. Joe ran out a couple of seconds later. "Keep on him, Ralph" he shouted as he ran after them. Ralph was beginning to catch up with the escaping trainer. Then, just when they were about to reach the end of the corridor Frank darted inside the last room to the right and Ralph flew past the door before he could stop. He quickly turned round and flew back. Joe had reached the door at the same time and they both burst in. the room inside was no different to any other room on the ship. It did however look like no one was currently living in it. The bed was made and all the sheets were in perfect condition with no creasing's or loose edges. There was also no bags, clothing, personal items or in fact anything that someone may take with them on holiday. The room couldn't be vacant however because the door was unlocked by a key.

"Where is he?" Joe asked quietly. Ralph shrugged and stepped - or rather flew - through the doorway. He moved in, looking around but didn't see anyone. Joe joined him. "What was he doing sneaking around in our room?" Joe thought quietly to himself. Ralph looked at him not surprised by any of this. "Wait." Joe thought, suddenly realising something. There was a quiet 'whoosh' behind him. Before Joe could react Ralph struck out with his wing and knocked a small lead pipe out of the hands of a young dark skinned trainer with pointy red hair and yellow eyes.

"Wha…" Frank exclaimed in surprise as his weapon was knocked out of his hands. He recoiled in surprise and tried to bolt for the door again but Ralph tackled him to the ground and pinned him down with one large wing.

"I give up. I give up." He yielded. "I didn't mean anything. It was just a practical jest." He cried.

"Frank." Joe said emotionlessly. "Of course. Why didn't I see this before? You're Frank from Team Ace aren't you?" Frank sighed angrily.

"All right. You got me officer!" He joked. "It's me! Frank the Illusive! Caught at last. Take me in." he laughed and held out his arms faking them being cuffed together.

"What were you doing sneaking about in my room at this hour?" Joe asked him seriously.

"Take a guess." Frank laughed nervously. "I'll give you a clue. He's currently sitting on me." He shifted his eyes from Joe to Ralph. Ralph growled unhappily. Joe slapped his palm on his forehead in an outburst of annoyance.

"Of course." He sighed. At that moment two more people burst into the room from outside. They wore red suits with black gloves and boots and a large playing card was printed onto the front of both their shirts. They looked from Joe to Ralph and then down to Frank.

"Frank!" Ruby cried. "What are you doing lying down on the job?"

"And what are they doing awake?" Ross added.

"Team Ace." Joe sighed. "Why am I not surprised?"

"Frank, how on earth did you manage to screw up this time?" Ross asked. "The job was perfectly simple. Grab the bat and leg it out of there. It's not rocket science!"

"It wasn't my fault." Frank cried. "The boat shook and woke them up." At that moment another group of people burst through the door. Unluckily for Team Ace it was Joes friends, Winter, Rocky and Tom, all of them fully dressed.

"What's going on?" Tom asked.

"The entire ship shook." Winter added. They then noticed the two trainers in red standing before them and a third trainer pinned underneath Ralph. "What are they doing here?" She asked.

"What do you think?" Joe, Ross, Ruby and Frank said at the same time. The ship suddenly shook again. Tom, Winter and Rocky all grabbed on to the doorway to keep stable. Ralph kept low to the ground and Frank grabbed his shoulders. Ross and Ruby grabbed onto each other. Joe held onto the side of a table. The entire room shook wildly and then everything started moving to the right. The shaking died down but there was still the sensation of everything moving to the right.

"What was that?" Ruby exclaimed.

"We've turned." Rocky told them. "We're turning back around."

"Why are we doing that?" Tom asked. There was suddenly a lot of shouting coming from outside and some screaming. All of them turned around to the doorway. Ralph got off of Frank who stood himself up and joined his friends.

"What's going on out there?" He asked. Joe and Ruby both poked their heads around the door. Outside people were leaving their rooms and being lined up against the wall. Rounding them up was a group of people in black suits and large red R's on the front. They pulled people out of the rooms and pushed them against the right wall at gunpoint.

"Team Rocket." Joe gasped. "Knew they'd pop up at some point as well."

"What are they doing?" Ruby asked. "They're taking all the passengers hostage."

"Why are they doing that?" Joe thought.

"I don't know but we're probably next." Ruby said and stepped back from the door. Joe too turned back to the group.

"If team rocket are taking people then what are we going to do?" Tom asked. "How do we stop them?"

"Stop them?" Frank asked. "You must be joking. I'm getting out of here before we're next."

"No you aren't" Ross told him strictly. "We're all stuck in the same boat. Literally. Besides you've nowhere to go. The entire ship is probably overrun by them and I'd imagine they've thrown away the lifeboats. You can't swim. How exactly do you expect to escape?"

"I'd turn into a Lapras or another type of water Pokémon." Frank told them seriously. Ruby glared at him angrily.

"Frank!" She snapped. "You're staying here and that's final!" there was movement outside in the hallway. Everyone stood completely still. In the distance Joe heard someone asked 'What was that?' The Rocket grunt must have heard Ruby shout. They had been detected and Team Rocket were now coming over to check it out.

"Quick! Hide!" Joe whispered.


	12. Chapter 12: Raid on the SS Falcon

One of the Rocket grunts split from the group to go check out the noise that they had heard. It had sounded like a girl shouting at someone. Slowly he walked up the corridor towards the last room on the right. He stopped outside the door, readied his gun and burst in. The room was completely empty. He stepped slowly inside. Still nothing. The door swung shut suddenly. The grunt turned around and something tough and solid had smashed him in the face. Rocky, who had been standing behind the door, had jumped out and punched the grunt strait in the centre on his face. The grunt dropped to the floor unconscious. The rest of the group came out of their hiding places from under the bed, in the cupboards and even in the toilet.

"Jesus Christ, Rocky!" Joe exclaimed as he slid himself out from underneath the bed. "I thought you were going to knock him out a bit less painfully!" Rocky looked at him unconcerned.

"Well I knocked him unconscious, didn't I?" Rocky told him.

"We'll need to hide him somewhere" Winter told them.

"And tie him up so he can't escape when he wakes up." Tom added. Quickly Rocky and Ross rapped one of their escape ropes around the unconscious grunt and lifted him into the cupboard. They shut the door, wrapped the handles shut with another strand of rope and locked him in.

"Well we got rid of him." Frank said "Now what do we do?"

"We need to get rid of the rest of them." Rocky decided. "But that won't be easy. There must be at least another four grunts out there and who knows how many more on the rest of the ship."

"We need a plan then." Joe decided.

"How about we find one of the life boats and leave?" Frank told them. "We don't need to get involved in this."

"Frank, now is not the time to run away." Ruby told him strictly. "Besides they'd only catch you, too. Imagine how much they'd be paid for a ditto. Not only that but one that can talk, too."

"Ok. I get the point." Frank gave in. "So what is the plan, then?" he asked.

"Give me a second." Joe told them, trying to think. Outside someone started shouting.

"What's taking you so long?" one of the grunts had shouted out, clearly trying to talk to the other grunt they had taken out.

"We need to think of something now." Ruby pointed out. "Or they're gunna get suspicious and then we're all dead."

"I have an Idea." Joe decided "Though it's probably not the best one I've ever had."

"Well then, spill it." Tom demanded.

"We need someone to disguise themselves as the grunt and go out there so they don't get suspicious we are hiding from them."

"Who'd be dumb enough to do that?" Frank asked. Six pairs of eyes all turned and fixed on him, each thinking the same thing. "Oh no!" Frank snapped, vigorously shaking his hands in disagreement. "No. You aren't getting me to do it."

"You're the only one who can." Rocky argued with him. "You can shapeshift. We can't. You can easily copy that grunt we locked in the cupboard and go out there and pretend to be him."

"You try pretending to be someone else." Frank snapped angrily "It's very tiring constantly changing form all the time. It's like stretching the same dough into a different shape every 10 seconds. It gets stretched out and thin."

"Don't give us that crap!" Ruby snapped at him "You've done little to no transforming all day. You're just trying to stall. Well stop and just do what you're told for one minute without complaining." Frank sighed.

"Oh all right." He gave in. "I'll do it." Frank dissolved into a bunch of pixels and reformed wearing the black suit, black hat and face mask of a rocket grunt. "This good enough for you?"

"Perfect." Ruby told him.

"Is this all of the plan?" Frank asked. "I go out there, pretend to be one of them and find a way to stop them from the inside.

"No, it's not enough." Joe added, thinking again. "They heard someone shouting out. They'll be suspicious if Frank goes out there alone."

"You're right." Rocky pitched in. "We need someone to go with him as a prisoner."

"Well Ruby gave us away…" Frank started. "So she should be the one I have as my prisoner."

"No way." Ruby argued. "I'll go with the others and try and take them by surprise. I'll do better in that position."

"I'll do it." Winter volunteered. They all turned to look at her.

"Are you sure, winter?" Joe asked. "We might need you to help us take on the commander again and get the ship back on course."

"They heard a girl shout out when they came to investigate." Winter explained. "If I don't go then they'll be even more suspicious. I'll be fine."

"Ok. If you're sure." Joe finished.

"I'm sure." Winter told him.

"I've just found another problem." Rocky added. "They hear Ruby shout out at someone. If they're smart they'd notice that Frank was leaving this room with one prisoner. It would seem rather suspicious if they walked out of their claiming only one person was hiding there."

"That's a good point, actually." Ross agreed. Frank sighed tired and annoyed.

"Oh for god's sake this is getting ridiculous!" He yelled aloud. "At this rate it would be quicker just to jump out, take them by surprise and remove them by force."

"We wouldn't stand a chance doing that, Frank." Ross told him. "If we surprise them and take out their leader they'll retreat."

"I'll go with them." Tom offered. "Me and my team can take care of any of the grunts should our cover be blown."

"Ok then." Joe decided, confirming their plan. "Frank, Winter and Tom will go with the grunts outside and when everything goes down fight them from the inside. Meanwhile the rest of us head up into two groups of two. Rocky and Ross surprise the grunts guarding the hostages while me and Ruby head to the Bridge, free the captain and get him to steer the ship back to town." He folded his arms nonchalantly. "Any Questions?" he asked. Frank raised his hand.

"No one? Good. Let's do this." Frank stared annoyed as everyone split into groups and got ready to move.

"Took your time coming out of there." One grunt said as Frank walked out of the room, in full Rocket uniform pushing Winter and Tom forwards with both hands. "And you've found a couple more passengers. Excellent work. The boss'll be happy." Frank stopped in front of the other four grunts. "Did they have any Pokémon on them?" The same grunt asked.

"No, sir." Frank replied, trying to make his voice sound as thuggish as he possibly could. "I already searched them. Ain't not a pokéball on either of them." There was a moment's silence. A bead of sweet dripped down the side of Frank's masked face.

"Good." The grunt said finally. He didn't seem to be suspicious of them at all. It seemed that Frank's disguise and voice was working. "Put them with the others and we'll take them up to the main deck. The commander needs us to round up all the passengers and that's what we'll do." Frank sighed quietly and led Winter and Tom to the back of the group of passengers.

"You guys just stay quiet and wait for our chance." Frank whispered quietly into both their ears. "The others will act soon enough. We just need to wait and keep hidden." And he quietly walked aside and joined the two grunts at the back of the group keeping it moving.

"This should be interesting." Tom whispered to Winter. "If Frank doesn't give us away with his single minded stupidity then they're eventually going to figure out we still have our Pokémon."

"We'll be able to deal with them should that happen." Winter reassured him quietly. "We could take on the five of them."

"I'm more worried about the other grunts on the ship that aren't with us." Tom whispered.

"Quiet, back there!" One of the grunts at the front snapped at them. Both Tom and Winter stopped talking instantly. As the group moved along they passed the open door to the room that Frank, Winter and Tom had come out of. Both Winter and Tom looked into the room. The others, Joe, Rocky, Ruby and Ross all looked back at them. Tom nodded as to confirm the go ahead of the plan. As the group disappeared up the stairs Ross poked his head round the corner and checked the halls.

"It's clear." He called back inside." As a group the four of them stepped outside into the hallway.

"Ok. Rocky and Ross, you two follow those Rocket grunts and find a way to free all the passengers." Joe instructed, simply.

"Got it." Rocky nodded

"What do we do then?" Ruby asked Joe.

"We go down the hallway, up the opposite flight of stairs and head for the Bridge." He said simply.

"Do you know where the bridge is?" Ruby asked. Joe thought for a second then shrugged simply.

"No, but it shouldn't be too hard to find." He told her. "Do you have any Pokémon with you?"

"Just a Nidoran" She answered.

"Might be a good idea to get it out now." He told her. "In case wo run into trouble."

"Ok." Ruby replied, pulling out her pokéball and releasing her Pokémon.

"Ok teams. Move out." In their groups they then headed off in opposite directions.

"This won't end well at all." Joe and Ruby heard Ross say as they left. They also heard Rocky shush him quiet. The duo quickly reached the stairs at the end of the hallway and made their way up them, Ralph taking the short cut. They went up 3 decks before the stairs stopped. On the opposite of the stairs was a map of the ship decks, each floor outlined and colour coordinated. They stopped quickly to look for the bridge.

"There." Ruby said, pointing around the central area of the ship. "That's the bridge here, just above the main deck."

"Perfect." Joe announced. "It's on this floor so it will be easy to get there. We just need to hope there aren't any grunts in our way." Luckily for them they were able to slip past all the grunts patrolling the deck. In no time they reached the upper deck that looked down on the main deck. The centre had been removed, allowing them to look down on the deck bellow. There was a metal railing guarding the edge and stopping them stepping over accidentally.

"There they are." Joe said pointing bellow them. The group that they had seen in the hallway outside their room that Frank, Winter and Rocky were hiding in had just arrived and joined up with another group of grunts moving their prisoners.

"Looks like they have the entirety of the ship's crew and passengers down there." Joe said amazed by their efficiency.

"What do they want from an entire ship of people?" Ruby asked.

"If I know Team Rocket it would be simply to steal their Pokémon." Joe told her.

"But this doesn't add up." Ruby argued. "They're taking prisoners. If they wanted the Pokémon they could just steal them while they slept. Besides the people on this ship are families, elderly and travellers and it's likely a lot of them wouldn't have Pokémon on them. Why wake everyone up and take them prisoner if you're just after Pokémon?"

"Then maybe it isn't Pokémon they are after." Joe reasoned. "Maybe they're after something entirely different." He suddenly noticed something to the side of the room bellow flash with a dim light. His eyes shot in the direction it came from. There was a small machop hiding behind a mannequin using a small hand mirror to send a glisten of light at them. He waved as he saw Joe loot at him. Joe waved back.

"That looks like Chopper." Joe said, thinking.

"Who's Chopper?" Ruby asked.

"It's Rocky's Machop." Joe explained.

"Who's Rocky?" Winter asked, even more confused.

"The one from our group who went with Ross." Joe explained

"Oh him." Ruby exclaimed realising. "The one who looks too big for his shoes and wears that awful dark brown shirt with the Onix on." Joe looked at her, surprised by her comment and perception of his friend.

"Yeah. Whatever." He looked back down at the waving machop who had now backed up into the shadows. Joe was just able to pick out Rocky and Ross hiding there in the dark, waiting to put their plan into action.

"Looks like they're signalling to us." Ruby decided. "They must be ready to free them now."

"Then we'd better get to the bridge now then." Joe told her. "Which way was it?"

"Over there." Ruby replied, pointing to the far end of the deck. At the far end was a large steel door. There was also, surprisingly, no guard guarding it.

"Ok." Joe announced, grabbing his bag and getting up from his viewing position. "We'd better hurry up and get in there quick."

"Where are the others?" Tom started to wonder. The last few passengers had been gathered up and moved into a line against the wall, guarded by the rocket grunts. Unluckily for Winter and Tom, Frank had been positioned further down the line from them. "They said they were going to help us free them. They should have acted by now."

"They will soon." Winter reassured him. "I trust Rocky to know what he's doing."

"I trust your friends, don't worry." Tom told her. "It's Team Ace I don't trust. Since you've known them they've gotten you into trouble three times and tried to steal Ralph five times."

"They've also gotten us out of a sticky situation twice." Winter argued. "One of them was today. They may be selfish and opportunistic but they're not truly bad people."

"I wait to be proven so." Tom told her.

"We just need to wait for an advantage." Winter told him. "We just need to watch what they do and find an opportunity."

"Hey! You there!" The closest grunt shouted at them. "Hope you're not planning to escape." Tom and Winter looked crossly at the grunt as he walked up to them sternly. "You planning a small revolution are you?" he said sinisterly to Winter.

"You leave her Alo…" Tom started but was stopped by the angry shout from the grunt.

"Shut it!" he snapped, viciously. He turned back to Winter, his arms folded sternly behind his back. "The idea of our relationship is you stay quiet, follow instructions, don't try to escape and we don't hurt you. Understand?" He told her. She looked him strait in the eyes.

"No." She said simply but sternly.

"What?" The grunt asked. "I didn't hear you."

"I said No" Winter told him, folding her arms.

"No?!" The grunt repeated, actually surprised she was standing up to him.

"No!" Winter said again.

"No, what?" The grunt asked, sinisterly. He was expecting her to break down in fear. All those who stood up to Team Rocket usually did. Winter took a breath.

"No, as in, 'No, I will not do as you say' as in 'No, you can't keep us prisoner' and No, as in 'No, You can not threaten me, hurt me or do anything to me that would scare me out of fighting back." She growled in a strong, commanding voice. She looked him evilly in the eyes, took a firm step forward and held her ground. The grunt growled angrily.

"Not even if I do this?!" He shouted, pulling back his right arm and swinging a heavy fist down at her face. To his surprise Winter raised her own leg and struck out, hitting the grunt in the stomach. He doubled back in pain and surprise, yelling out as he did so.

"Not even if you do that." She answered. There was a sudden crashing noise nearby, like the entire roof had fallen down around them. They all turned to their left to see a large bench flying strait towards them. Quickly Tom pulled Winter back against the wall as the bench crashed by and toppled over several of the grunts in the way, including the one Winter had started a fight with. On grunt at the far end had somehow caught the bench in mid-air. At a closer glance it was visible that the grunt had four huge grey arms holding it in the air. Frank laughed with excitement, dropped the bench to the floor and struck the grunt behind him with one large grey fist and sent it flying off down the passageway. As the debris passed Winter and Tom looked around the group of staring passengers. It appeared the bench had been thrown by a happy looking young machop waving happily at them all. From the shadows stepped Rocky and Ross, both ready to fight.

"Somebody call for backup?" Ross asked, sarcastically and comically. Rocky looked at him, questioningly.

"What did I tell you about saying that?" Rocky asked, annoyed.

"Whatever. We're helping them out now, aren't we?" Ross argued. Rocky rolled his eyes.

"All right then. Let's sort this lot out!"

"They've started fighting." Ruby noticed as she and Joe reached the large steel door to the bridge.

"Good." Joe said, grabbing the steel door handle. "That should keep the grunts distracted." He pulled on the door but it didn't budge. "Locked. Blast!" He exclaimed annoyed. He then proceeded to try ramming the door down but all that resulted in was a hurt shoulder.

"That's not going to help us." Ruby told him. "It's too tough." Joe sighed.

"You're right." He turned to his purple friend. "Ralph. Could you do something?" Ralph nodded confidently and took position. "Try using your Air Cutter move." Joe recommended. Ralph nodded. He took a deep breath, pulled back his front wings, raised his head… and then released. There was a strong 'Fwoosh' of air as Ralph's wings swung forward and sent a burst of air against the door. To everyone's surprise however the door merely creaked.

"It didn't work." Joe stared.

"This is one tough door." Ruby commented. "Maybe we could burn it down?" Joe looked up suddenly.

"Of course!" He realised. "We melt off the hinges and the door will fall down." He reached to his belt and unclipped Cinder's pokéball. "Let's go, Cinder!" He exclaimed, throwing the ball and releasing his Charmander friend. "Ok, Cinders." Joe announced. "We need to take down this door. Could you melt of the hinges for us?" Cinder yapped happily and readied a breath. He then released a small plume of fire from his mouth. The plume landed on the top door hinge which started to melt away in place. As it did so the door began to tilt slightly. "Again." Joe commanded again. Cinders released another small ember of fire at the second door hinge. The hinge melted away and the door began to fall forwards, towards the tiny Charmander. Quickly without thinking Joe lunged forward, grabbed Cinders under the arms and pulled him back in a flash, just as the solid steel door crashed to the floor. Cinders looked completely shocked. He looked up at Joe who was sweating. Joe noticed his friend looking up him and laughed slightly. "Saved your life again, huh." He laughed.

"That was some quick reaction time you have." Ruby complemented him. Joe looked at her and smiled.

"Thanks." He then remembered the door he'd just taken down and let Cinders back to the ground. All four of them peeked through the doorway. The bridge inside was not as big as Joe had expected. There was a bunch of panels and buttons that Joe had no idea what they did. The only thing he did recognise was the help and even then he only knew it because of all the Pirate movies he had seen as a child. At one of the sets was elderly old man wearing a captain's uniform and hat with White hear and long White moustache with sideburns. It looked like he had been beaten up badly and as Joe looked he noticed several ropes strapped around the chair and the man's chest.

"That must be the captain." Ruby noted. They continued to look around.

"If he's the captain…" Joe added. "Then who's that at the helm?" Ruby, Ralph and Cinders followed his gaze. At the helm was another man. He was not as old as the captain but he had greying hair and a long, thin moustache poking out from underneath his long, pointy nose. Unsurprisingly he wore the black hat and uniform of a rocket commander. It wasn't the same commander as the last several times, however. As Joe noticed this the Commander said suddenly…

"Oh dear. Captain, we appear to have unwanted visitors." He turned his head slowly to look at them. His eyes were misty and pail but his expression was stern and commanding. "What do you want, hmm? To free the captain and kick us of the ship?" He asked sarcastically. Joe shrugged.

"Simply put yes." He replied. The commander tuted and shook his head.

"How predictable. You trainers are all the same. Not an original idea for battle in you." He lifted his cap up slightly, revealing small strands of grey hair underneath. "I personally preffer to surprise my opponent, in battle and in conversation. But where are my manors?" He bowed humbly. "I am Commander Wharton. Second Commander of Team Rocket. At your service."

"Your polite façade doesn't fool us." Joe told him. "What do you want with this ship?" He asked. To his surprise the Commander laughed at his question.

"Why should I tell you our plans?" He asked back, mockingly. "You may be a child but I'm not a fool. Team Rocket was beaten by a child one before, but not again." At that he whipped a hand into his pocket and pulled out a small metal whistle.

"What are you going to do with that?" Ruby mocked. "Make our ears bleed?"

"Not exactly" Commander Wharton told her, smiling evilly. He raised the whistle to his lips and blew. A shrill high pitched whistling sound played out. At first nothing happened.

"Was that it?" Joe asked. Wharton just smiled. Suddenly something big, hairy and fast crashed past and knocked all four of them onto the floor. Joe sat up and rubbed his head.

"What on earth was that?!" He exclaimed in pain. Whatever it was that hit him was incredibly powerful and very fast. Ralph got up from the floor quickly only to find himself being pushed against the nearest was by a strong, muscular, boxing glove like hand. He pushed against it with his front wings in desperation.

"That's it, Primeape." Commander Wharton Shouted. "Crush them to a pulp!"

"Primeape!" Ruby exclaimed in fear. "Oh boy. We're in trouble." Ralph desperately struggled to fight back but it was clear he could get free from Primeape's grip.

"Cinders!" Joe called desperately. The Tiny Charmander jumped to its feet. "Help Ralph!" Joe told it. Cinders Jumped. He glided through the air for a couple of seconds before landing onto Primeape's swinging arm and biting down hard. Primeape felt a sharp jolt of pain, looked down and saw the Charmander hanging by its jaw onto its left arm. Casually it began shaking, trying to loosen it.

"I'll lend a hand." Ruby told Joe. "Scratch its feet." She commanded her small Nidoran. Primeape felt another small sensation of pain at its feet. It looked down to see a small blue rabbit thing with spikes scratching away at its legs. Calmly it kicked it away. Fang rolled away in a little blue ball, got back up and went back in for the attack. Again Primeape tried shaking Cinders of. It pulled its arm forward and quickly threw it backwards. Cinders was no longer able to hang on. The small red Charmander sailed across the room, through a window and almost directly over the railing at the front of the deck. It hung from the metal bar by its paws desperately trying to keep its grip.

"Cinders!" Joe cried and ran outside through an open door.

"This should be interesting." Wharton commented and walked out the room. "Primeape. Finish that thing off." He commanded as he left. Primeape nodded and kept pushing. Ralph had its arm against his neck. He tried pushing back with his wings but he wasn't strong enough. As the commander walked outside Ruby took advantage and ran to free the captain. She grabbed the rope binding him and tugged. Fang joined in, nibbling away the rope in seconds. As the rope fell away the captain fell free and drooped weekly forwards. Ruby caught him in her arms and helped prop him up.

"Ugh." He moaned sleepily. "What happened? Where am I?" He asked.

"Tough to explain right now." Ruby told him. "All you need to know is Team Rocket has taken over the ship and we need you to steer us back to land. Understand?" The captain rubbed his bald head.

"I think so." Ruby Smiled.

"Good." She helped the captain out of the seat and to the help. "Now get us moving."

Joe ran outside at full speed. He quickly found Cinders hanging by a claw on the other side of the railing.

"Hang on, buddy." Joe told him calmingly. He reached out with his hand, trying to grab Cinders and pull him up. Cinders too reached out to grab his hand. The morning sun rose slowly in the distance in front of them. As they reached out for one another Commander Wharton walked up slowly behind him, a huge grin on his face. Ralph noticed him moving up out of the window in the bridge. He growled angrily and tried pushing harder but Primeape would not budge. Commander Wharton reached into his pocket and pulled out something thin and golden with lots of large holes for fingers. Ralph stared in fear for his friend. That fear turned into a desperate anger. He knew what the commander was going to do. He opened his jaw and bit down roughly on Primeape's arm. Primeape squealed in pain and, to Ralph's happiness, loosened his grip and let go of Ralph. This was his chance. Ralph let go, dodged Primeapes swinging fist and pulled his wings back. When he released the room shook with a terrible burst of cutting wind. The captain and Ruby grabbed hold of the helm for dear life. Primeape was less fortunate as it went sailing through the window. Wharton turned in surprise to see Primeape hurtling towards him. Unluckily for him he wasn't quick enough to duck. The large, brown monkey struck into him flew over the rail and crashed to the deck bellow, causing a huge dent in the floor. Joe and Cinders hands finally met. They gripped palms and Joe pulled up his tiny Red lizard friend to safety. Joe hugged the tiny thing warmly, glad he was safe. Ralph flew over and joined their embrace. Wharton got up painfully and looked over the railing. He saw his Pokémon lying unconscious on the floor below and gasped in absolute shock.

"I don't believe it!" He exclaimed in surprise. "How did you win?" there was a sudden cry from inside. Wharton, Joe and his friends all looked around in sudden surprise. The captain was charging, arms first strait at the commander. As he ran through the door the captain gave an almighty push and the commander found himself falling over the deck railings.

"Whaaaaa!" He yelled as he fell. "Curse you, trainer!". There was a light thud. When they looked back over they saw the commanded laying in pain on Primeapes snoring stomach.

"Well that's done then." The captain announced. "Now time to get this ship back on track."

Three hours later and the ship was docked back in Vermillion city. Although they had managed to stop team rocket and most of the grunts had been caught and detained by policemen as they arrived, Commander Wharton and his Pokémon had disappeared into thin air. No one could find them anywhere. The Captain had asked to meet Joe and his friends on the front deck. The weather was sunny now and the time had reached midday. They stood in a line. Joe was in the middle, his friends and Ralph to the right, Team Ace to the left.

"My friends…" The Captain announced. "I am forever grateful for your help today in stopping Team Rocket from taking over this vessel." Joe found himself smiling proudly. "And as a reward…" The Captain continued. "I bestow upon you the Hero's Badge. A badge of honour in this region." He went down the line, handing out a small silver badge to each of them. As he reached Joe he handed him one. Joe looked at the badge in his palm. He was expecting it to be an H or a man with a cloak flying through the air. It was in fact a small circle with a white star in the middle. Simple but it felt like it had meaning. Joe nodded in appreciation. "If you hadn't turned up we would have surely been lost to those criminals." The captain continued, shaking Joe's hand.

In no time at all the group were back on solid ground, the wind in their hair, the city before them.

"Well that was a fun adventure…" Frank said suddenly, taking everyone by surprise. "But we should probably be getting out of here."

"You're not leaving already, are you? Winter asked actually feeling slightly sad.

"Sorry." Ross told her. "It's what we do. We jump in, we steal, and then we leave like that."

"You aren't that bad you know." Joe told them. Everyone looked at him surprised. "You may act all tough and self-important but you're not that bad. Especially in comparison with Team Rocket. If you were you wouldn't have willingly helped us against them today." Ross and Ruby looked at each other.

"Know what." Ruby told him. "I guess we aren't."

"But we've gotta keep the image and all, you know." Ross explained. "So we keep our appearance with the public and all. Don't want to look weak now, do we." Joe smiled.

"I guess not."

"See you round, Heroes." Ruby laughed. And with that they walked away.

"I should probably be going as well. Tom told them.

"Really?" Joe moaned, disappointed. "We only just met back up."

"I've got things I need to do." Tom explained "Places to go. Professor Oak isn't going to get all his post by magic now, is he." Joe laughed.

"No. I guess he won't."

"See you guys around some point." Tom told them.

"By, Tom." The trio said as Tom, too walked away into the distance.

"What now?" Rocky asked.

"We take on the gym." Winter said simply. "Is that still the plan?" She asked, turning to Joe.

"Of course." He said simply. He then yawned loudly. "But first I need to find a free bed and rest a bit."


	13. Chapter 13: The Lightning American

After the events of the last day Joe was glad to be on dry land again. He, Rocky and Winter had tried to find somewhere to rest but had been unsuccessful. Soon after they found themselves standing outside of Vermilion's Gym. Joe had made a quick stop earlier at the Pokémon centre to heal up his team after the fighting.

"It's funny how whenever we travel to a new town this is always the last place we go to before leaving." Winter said aloud.

"It's kind of like the old saying." Rocky added. "Save the best to last."

"I feel it's more like leave the biggest challenge to the end." Joe joined in.

"Are you ready for this?" Winter asked Joe, kindly.

"I'm ready for anything" he told her, though he didn't sound too confident. "I beat the last two gyms, I can beat this one, no trouble."

"Remember you lost against me the first time." Rocky reminded him. "And Misty almost beat you when you battled her."

"I don't expect to win easily." Joe told him truthfully. "It won't be easy. I just expect to do my best and hopefully my best will be enough to see me through."

"Well good luck in there." Rocky told him, encouragingly. "We'll be watching from the stands as usual." As he said so the large glass doors slid open and the trio stepped inside.

The gyms interior was in many ways the same as the last two gyms. The only difference was the field in which the Pokémon battled. In Pewter gym there was a rocky terrain to the field, in Cerulean gym the field was a large swimming pool with a central float for none-water Pokémon. In Vermilions gym there was just a flat, well-polished running track. The far end of the gym was surprisingly unlit. The entirety of the opponent's podium was shrouded in darkness.

"Where's the gym leader?" Joe wondered aloud. Ralph shrugged in response. There was a sudden flash as a bunch of stage lights switched on and illuminated the stadium part by part. As the final stage light switched on a large, muscular man in a yellow utility suit and large leather boots and gloves. He had short, brown, sergeant hair atop a square jawed head and just visible from afar were the hilt of a pair of shades resting on his ears. There was a sudden burst of loud, rocky, patriotic music all around them. Ralph tried to cover his ears with his wings but almost dropped out of the sky. The Man spun around and help a pose like he was holding a rifle. He made a couple of gunfire sound, pretended to throw his gun aside and then pointed a finger directly at Joe.

"Welcome Trainer!" He roared over the music in a heavy German accent. "I am Lieutenant Surge, The Lightning American, and welcome to Vermillion City Gym! The gym of electrically charged war heroes!" He walked slowly across the field towards the challenger as he spoke. As he reached Joe he stuck out a gnarly hand. Joe took it cautiously. "What's ya name, puny one?" Lt Surge asked.

"Joe." Joe told him, simply.

"Joe? A weak name for a weak trainer." He taunted. He looked at Ralph beside him. "And what Pokémon is this?" He asked, mockingly. "Some kind of giant bat? And purple, too." He crushed his palm in the air. "I will squash it with my electrifying combat techniques." Joe looked slightly offended.

"Easy with the insults." Joe told him, pushing out with both hands. "I came here to challenge the gym leader, not be insulted by him."

"That's part of the job for me" Surge explained. "If you're not strong enough to fight me then…" He tutted under his breath. "I'm afraid you've no need being here."

"Sorry but I didn't come here to talk." Joe explained, exhausted by all the adventuring he'd been doing over the last several days. "I've just got off of a ship that was attacked by team rocket and haven't had a wink of sleep since. I came here looking for a battle to wake me up and if you're not up to that well…" He tutted under his breath as well, mocking Lt Surge's taunts. The Vermillion gym leader smiled.

"So you're not as weak or timid as you look after all." He Held out an arm and shook Joe's hand roughly. "You came to challenge a strong gym leader, ja. You came to challenge me. What are we standing around for?" He raised his arm into the air and clenched his fist. "I accept!"

As usual Joe found himself standing on the left side podium which is where the challenger podium stood. He had already picked out his team for this battle and it had been decided the battle would be a three on three battle. On the opposite podium stood Lieutenant Surge pumped up and ready to fight. To his right was the large electric score board with the Pokémon health meters.

"Let's get started, shall we?" Surge said. He readied his first pokéball, pulled back his arm and released. "Go, Voltorb." As his Pokémon was released Joe found himself confused.

"What Pokémon is that?" He asked, looking up and down at the Pokémon. "It's basically a larger pokéball with eyes." Sure enough the Pokémon that Lt Surge had released was in many respects a large pokéball with two large white eyes. The only major difference was a normal pokéball was around 5 inches in size, Voltorb was around a foot tall and didn't have a button on its face.

"Be careful on what you say to Voltorb." Lt Surge told him seriously. "You might live to regret it."

"My Pokémon next I guess." Joe Said. He turned to his Crobat friend beside him. "You ready." Ralph nodded. He flew from the podium and took position on the field. For some reason unknown to Joe, Lt Surge smiled at this move.

"Voltorb, use Tackle." He cried. And the battle began. Voltorb began rolling towards Ralph at a fast pace. Ralph however had little trouble evading its attack. He simply flew over it with ease.

"Is that it?" Joe asked, trying not to laugh.

"Far from it" Lt Surge told him, still smiling for some reason. "Shock wave!" He commanded. Voltorb suddenly rippled with static electricity and released a bolt of electricity from its body aimed at Ralph. Fortunately Ralph saw it coming and rolled aside in mid-air. The bolt however somehow turned around as it passed and came back, aimed directly at Ralph.

"What…?" Joe started, surprised "Ralph, Look out!" He called. Ralph looked back, saw the large yellow beam heading straight towards him and dived aside again. The beam followed, taking a sharp turn and almost clipping the tip of his wing. "How is it doing that?" Joe asked, stunned. Ralph tried outrunning the bolt but it was moving faster than him. He dived to the left but suddenly flinched. The bolt of electricity had struck him in the side. His muscles spasms into a clench, his wings crippled and folded and suddenly he was free falling out of the air. With a light but painful thud the giant purple bat hit the gym floor and lay sprawled out. Joe stared, open mouthed and absolutely stunned. "What was that?" Joe exclaimed. "Why was it following him like that?"

"This isn't good." Rocky said to Winter from their seats in the stands. "That move was one of the unavoidable attacks. If Ralph tries to dodge it, then it will just keep following him."

And it's an electric move, too." Winter added, clenching her hands together in anticipation. "Crobat's are flying types, weak to electric type moves." Down in the arena Ralph was starting to get up. He was moving his wings, trying to get into a position to push himself up. "If it hits him again he'll be out of the fight for good."

"You can't dodge a shock wave." Lt Surge explained, mockingly. "You'll just die tired." He laughed and turned back to the fight. "Voltorb, Rollout!" He commanded. Voltorb Began rapidly spinning forwards, getting faster and faster but somehow managing to stay in the same spot. Then it shot forward. Ralph looked up, saw a small spinning red and white ball heading straight for him and was knocked into the air by it striking him in the head and rolling past. Voltorb came back round for a second hit. Ralph steadied himself in the air and turned to face the charging ball.

"Use Steel wing!" Joe commanded. "If it's won the last 2 gym battles for us maybe it will win this one." He reasoned to himself. Ralph straightened out his wings till they were as tough as steel and glistening silver. He dived down, wings outstretched and struck voltorb with his right wing. To his surprise voltorb just knocked it out of the way and kept rolling. "Why didn't it work?" Joe wondered.

"Steel moves don't work on electric Pokémon." Lt Surge explained "Steel conducts their moves." Voltorb meanwhile had turned back around and was charging back at Ralph.

"Evade it!" Joe commanded. Ralph ignored him. He raised a wing and tried slashing it but voltorb was too quick. Ralph missed and was struck in the face, knocking him high into the air. "No!" Joe cried out. Ralph sailed through the air, his eyes clenched shut with pain. "Come on, Ralph." Joe cried. "You can deal with it. Show that Voltorb who's boss!" Ralphs eyes snapped open. Out of his clenched mouth he let out an angry grown. The growl grew to a howl, the howl turned into a roar. He turned over to his front in mid-air, pulled out his wings, gained height… and floated close to the roof for a couple of seconds. Then, with no warning he folded in his wings and dived, head first at the still rolling Voltorb. He dropped out of the air, a screaming purple missile. Voltorb heard him before he saw him. It slowed down, stopped, looked up and then… Ralph pulled out his wings and shot past. As he did so he struck voltorb in the head with his body and sent it rolling uncontrollably. Ralph sailed upwards, summersaulted in mid-air and turned back around. He dived again, wings outstretched. Voltorb hadn't even finished rolling when Ralph struck it from behind and sent it rolling off again. He knocked the poor Pokémon around the field like a billiard ball. Eventually voltorb couldn't take anymore. It stopped moving, spun round and released a weird arrow of sound. It hit Ralph in mid-air and made him stop in his tracks. On the board his health had dropped slightly. It was now at less than half the amount he'd started with. Ralph was starting to feel tired but he wasn't ready to give up just yet. He swelled up his mouth and shot out a small, greed dart at the voltorb. It struck it and disappeared into its skin. A small clump of green orbs floated out of where the dart hit and struck Ralph. He clenched his eyes and smiled happily as he felt his health coming back. On the board Ralph had gained a little health and Voltorb had lost a bit.

"Persistent, isn't he." Lt Surge commented. "Voltorb, use tackle again." Voltorb struck out at Ralph with its spherical body. Ralph fluttered backwards out of the way and lashed out with his wings as he did so. He struck it one, twice, a third time. Voltorb rolled backwards, stunned and weak.

"Finish it with your air cutter attack!" Joe commanded. Ralph took in a breath, pulled back his wings, lifted his head and released. His wings shot forwards, releasing a burst of cutting wind with them. Voltorb was knocked onto its back and rolled around, an unconscious ball.

"Yes!" Joe exclaimed, punching the air. "Great work, Ralph."

"Congratulations." Lt Surge clapped, mockingly. "You beat one of my Pokémon. I still have two more." He reached for a second pokéball. "And speaking of which, here comes my next." He pulled another ball from his belt and readied it. Releasing it into the air he cried "Go, Pikachu!" As he did so the ball struck the floor and released the usual beam of light which dissolved into the image of the easily recognisable yellow electric mouse. Ralph readied himself for another fight, adrenalin pumping through his body.

"Hold on, Ralph." Joe called out. "You're tired. Rest out on this one and let another one of our Pokémon deal with him." Ralph looked back at Joe, a little disappointed but he did as he was told. He turned around and flew back over to his podium. Joe pulled out a potion from his bag, pulled off the lid and handed the bottle to Ralph who glugged it down in one mouthful. He then took his place next to Joe as Joe readied a pokéball from his belt. "Come on out, Pippy!" Joe cried and released the pokéball. In snapped open and out came his own small yellow mouse Pokémon.

"Well, this will be an interesting battle." Lt Surge commented.

"Pippy, Quick attack!" Joe commanded.

"Pikachu, Agility!" Surge commanded.

Pippy darted forwards at the opponent Pikachu but it dashed to the side out of Pippy's way at an incredible speed. Pippy followed in, striking out but it kept dodging around and moving quicker and quicker each time.

"Now, Quick attack!" Surge commanded. The foe's Pikachu stopped, turned around and, as Pippy was approaching, Shot forward and they collided head first with each other. They both lay confused and in pain on the floor. Joe meanwhile was finding it trouble to recognise which Pikachu was which. Both of them looked exactly the same. After a couple of seconds looking he decided that Pippy had a lighter brown stripping then Surge's Pikachu did.

"Quick, Slam it while it's down." Surge cried. Surge's Pikachu pushed itself onto its feet, lowered itself to the floor and jumped forward, belly first. Pippy was quick to dodge it, however, simply jumping back out of the falling Pikachu's reach. It hit the floor with a light thud but got back up in seconds and swiped at Pippy with its paw. Pippy kept dodging back as it kept swiping out, trying to land a hit.

"Double Team it!" Joe called out. Pippy slid to a halt and as Pikachu lunged out at it, he evaporated into a mist of multiple moving copies of himself. Surge's Pikachu stood confused in a ring on fast moving yellow mice. It looked around, trying to focus on which Pikachu was the real one.

"Agility. Use your agility." Surge commanded. His Pikachu closed its eyes and tensed its muscles. This is the point that Pippy decided to attack back. He lunged out from his hiding position at the foes Pikachu. Pikachu however was no longer there. Before Pippy had even moved out of the ring of illusions, Surge's Pikachu had jolted to the left, leaving Pippy lashing out at nothing. He looked around confused that he missed and was struck in the side by Pikachu and knocked aside, wincing in pain. Pippy tried lashing out again but every time he did Pikachu would just dodge out of the way and attack back. Joe tried thinking of a way of turning the battle around. He had one idea but it wasn't the best he'd had and it was very unlikely to have any effect. Still, it was worth a try.

"Pippy, use thundershock!" He commanded. Pippy looked back to him, confused by his choice of command. It was known by most people and Pokémon that using a move of one type against a Pokémon of the same type meant that that Pokémon would usually resist the attack. In some cases they would even heal the Pokémon rather than do damage, making the Pokémon tougher to fight. "Just try it." Joe instructed him, reassuringly. Pippy began drawing the static electricity from around his body and focused it out into a short beam. It jolted out from his body and struck Pikachu, tickling him with the energy. Pikachu shuddered for a seconded but seemed to shake most of the damage off. Then his body seemed to clench and spasm and Pikachu curled up into a small ball and lay on the floor where he was. Pippy and Joe couldn't believe their luck. Joe was betting on Pippy's attack paralyzing Pikachu and it had. What were the chances? Surge withdrew his Pikachu from the fight. Now he just had one Pokémon left.

"You truly are strong." Surge complemented Joe, giving a sarcastic clap. "You obviously know how to train your Pokémon. But my final Pokémon is much stronger than my last two combined." And with that he pulled out another pokéball. Upon throwing the ball it released the usual beam to the ground but the Pokémon it left standing there was one Joe didn't recognise at all. It was tall, around 3 feet with yellow skin and black jagged stripes around its body. It had a long yellow tail, two long arms and a pair of small legs with big, flat feet. It had two small antennae in its head and a small tuft of yellow hair in between. It let out a courageous roar and flexed its arms showing off.

"Another new Pokémon?" Joe said to himself. "My Pokédex is coming along well today." He then looked to his Pikachu which sat patiently waiting for command. "Pippy, Quick Attack." Joe told him. Pippy got up and dashed forward, head lowered to strike.

"Electabuzz, Thunderpuch!" Surge's last Pokémon, 'Electabuzz' Pulled back a yellow fist and, as Pippy struck out at full speed, swung forward and knock him away. Pippy rolled away to the right and slid to a stop on his belly. He quickly pushed himself back up to his feet and went in for another attack. This time Electabuzz didn't even wait for Pippy to reach him. It charged forward, Fist pulled back. Pippy took a second to figure a strategy and then acted. As he got closer to Electabuzz he jumped upwards into the air and spun over its head, landing behind it. As he landed on all fours he shot out a small bolt of electricity that struck Electabuzz in the back. It spun around and growled at him, arms flexing. Pippy looked surprised and slightly disappointed. All it had done was annoy him. It roared and lunged out with a flame engulfed fist. Pippy scooted backwards, weaving and dodging out of the way as Electabuzz threw punches in all directions. Pippy decided to try another tactic. He stopped in the middle of the field and split into multiple figures of himself. As Electabuzz closed in it lunged at the nearest Pikachu and it evaporated into the air only to be replaced a second later by another one. The images quickly encircled it tightly. Electabuzz took a second to look around but instead of lunging at another one of the images it clenched its fists and raised them into the air. As it did so it released a small array of star shaped missiles from its bodies that shot into the air. As they flew upwards they seemed to turn around in mid-air and shoot back down to the ground. They weren't just randomly falling, however. They were specifically aiming at one of the images in particular. Pippy saw them falling directly towards him and dived aside but they followed. He tried zapping them out of the air but his attacks didn't have any effect. Before he could do anything else the stars struck him all over and shattered his double team. Electabuzz took full advantage of this. As Pippy was struggling back to his feet a large, yellow and black striped, flame engulfed fist struck it in the face and knocked him back again. Electrabuzz kept throwing burning punches at Pippy. He tried to react but the punches were coming so fast he couldn't move in any direction. Finally, when Pippy had little to no energy left to fight, Electrabuzz raised both arms into the air, palms flat and edged.

"No!" Joe exclaimed in desperation. "Pippy!" The tiny, battered Pikachu looked up weakly to see the two electric yellow arms swinging down in a chopping motion. Its attack struck with brutal efficiency, cleaving an X shape into the air where Pippy had been. The tiny Pikachu had been sent sailing backwards towards Joe's podium. It landed in a rough heap by the podium, battered and unconscious. Joe sighed sadly. Pippy's defeat had seemed so brutal to him. It felt like Electabuzz had gone out of its way to cause immense pain to his Pokémon. But what could he do. He ran up to his Pokémon and scooped it up from the floor and into his arms. He stoked its burned forehead and Pippy opened an exhausted eye sadly. "Good job, Pippy. You did well." He pulled out his pokéball and took back his Pokémon. As he clipped back the pokéball he looked up to see Surge patting electabuzz on the head and hand it a potion. Joe growled quietly, annoyed by his aggressive actions. He pulled out another pokéball and clenched it in his hands. "Ok." He said under his breath. "You wanna play rough? Then let's play rough!" He gripped the ball in his hand and pulled back his hand to throw the ball. As he released the ball it let out his newly evolved Ivysaur, Pitt. Joe hadn't had the chance to use Pitt in a battle since he evolved on Route 6 so he was keen to try out his new moves he'd learnt in a gym battle.

"So your third Pokémon comes into play." Surge announced dramatically. "I'll beat it either way." He rhymed, mockingly. He then pointed towards the battle field and electabuzz jumped down from the podium back to the fight.

"Pitt, Use razor leaf!" Joe commanded. Pitt lowered its head and the bulb on its back began to shudder. A flurry of razor sharp plant leaves shot out from underneath and flew strait at Electabuzz. It lashed out with its hands and swatted the leaves away. As it did so, however, it took a little damage from the leaves edges.

"Electabuzz, Thunderbolt." Electabuzz held its fists to its chest and released a large bolt of electricity at Pitt. It struck him and rippled over its skin. Pitt didn't seem to be bothered by it much, however. He simply shrugged it off and prepared to attack again.

"Pitt, use tackle!" Joe commanded. Pitt lowered his head and charged forwards. Electabuzz readied himself and was knocked backwards by Pitts ramming attack. It skidded backwards on its heels but managed to stop itself and charged in, fist raised. "Vine whip!" Joe commanded. Pitt released two long tree vines from his bulb that wrapped around Electabuzz's arm and leg. Electabuzz grabbed the vine around its other arm and tugged, trying to rip it off. Pitt whipped his vines upwards, pulling Electabuzz up with it. As Electabuzz hung in the air it struggled and lashed out. It then raised a hand and chopped down on the vine, slicing it in half in one blow. Pitt yelped and withdrew his vines. Electabuzz dropped down to the floor, landing on its stomach. It quickly flipped itself onto its feet again and charged back in, throwing in a fire punch and hitting Pitt square in the face. Pitt recoiled backwards in pain. He tried releasing another volley of razor leafs which successfully hit Electabuzz but he didn't react in the slightest. It raised its fist which sparked with static and swung out, striking Pitt again on the side of the face. He tripped backwards and staggered on its feet, barely able to stand. Pitt shuddered in pain, looked up and saw a thin beam of electricity heading straight for him from Electabuzz's flat palms. The electricity struck his forehead and sent spasming pains all down his body from his neck, down his spine and to the tip of his minute tail. His body seized up and he stood bolt upright on all fours for seconds before tilting to the side and falling onto his back, legs flat against his stomach. Joe sighed, not with disappointment because he knew Pitt did his best but with sadness. He had only one Pokémon left, Ralph. And Ralph was weak to electric types. He didn't have any revives at that point so he couldn't bring any of the others back in. He'd have to rely on careful strategy to win this fight. He was about to turn back and ask Ralph if he was ready when a large purple wing unfolded in front of him and stopped him. Ralph nodded slowly, understanding that he was next up… again. He flew in and took position by the podium on his side of the field.

"Ralph, use your speed and agility to outmanoeuvre Electabuzz's attacks." Joe whispered, tactfully to him from where he stood. "If you can dodge its attacks and make your own land then we can still win this fight." Ralph nodded agreeing and prepared himself.

"Electabuzz, Fire Punch!" Surge commanded, excitedly. Electabuzz raised its fist which blazed with a burning flame. It charged in arm raised and sped forwards to attack. Before its attack could hit, however, Ralph shot upwards out of the way and Electabuzz's attack missed. It looked up angrily at Ralph who was circling around above Electabuzz's head. He dive-bombed downwards and then, before hitting the floor, shot forwards and struck Electabuzz in the chest, knocking it over onto its striped back. Ralph shot past and made a U-turn back towards the fight. Electabuzz flipped back onto its feet, turned to face Ralph and shot out a small static beam from its palms at Ralph. Ralph began spinning in the air and dodged out of the beams way before it could hit him. He then raised his wings out and quickly swatted them inwards, creating a huge wave of cutting air. It struck electabuzz and battered it about. It held up an arm to block its face. As the wind died down Electabuzz raised an arm and charged in again, attempting to strike Ralph again. Ralph simply dodged out of the way and struck it in the back from behind. Electabuzz staggered forwards but quickly spun around and lashed out again only to find Ralph had shot miles back in one swift movement. Electabuzz angrily shot out another beam of electricity but Ralph dodged aside and shot upwards again, planning to dive-bomb again.

"Keep striking him, Ralph!" Joe commanded again. Ralph dived in again, Wings folded inwards for the drop.

"Electabuzz, Thunderpunch!" Surge instructed. Electabuzz yapped understanding and readied his fist. Ralph continued to dive in. He was almost directly at Electabuzz's position now. He lowered his head, ready to strike. And as he was about to crash strait into surge's Pokémon, Electabuzz shot out its arm. Its yellow sparking fist smacked Ralph square in the forehead. Instead of Ralph just being knocked a little he was sent sailing backwards in immense pain. He spun around in mid-air, performing several pain fuelled summersaults as he shot backwards. His eyes spun from the shock and as he finally stopped spinning he managed to get his focus back. He shook himself back to sense and grimaced, annoyed but also shocked, quite literally, at how strong electabuzz's punch had been. Electabuzz flexed proudly on his side of the field.

"Damn, that Electabuzz's punches are really doing some damage." Joe thought to himself. "Ralph might not be able to take another hit like that." "Ralph." Joe called out. Ralph turned around on the spot. "Make sure to stay away from Electabuzz's punches. Attack it from behind or afar." Ralph nodded, agreeing. He quickly shot forward in a blur of speed and air. He flew circles around Electabuzz on the spot. Electabuzz tried lashing out at him but Ralph was moving too fast for him to be hit. Ralph then shot past, striking Electabuzz in the stomach with a wing as he did so. Electabuzz growled angrily and threw out a bunch of small white stars strait at Ralph. He dived aside and flew out of the way, spinning around to avoid the stars as they locked on and caught up to him. Ralph was quick enough to stay ahead of them but he wasn't able to dislodge them. Then he came up with an idea. He turned back around and started flying back towards Electabuzz. He dived forwards looking like he was ready to attack. Before he crashed into him, however, he unfolded his wings and shot past it before any attacks could be made. Electabuzz watched him past confused. As it turned back around, however it saw half a dozen white stars heading straight towards it. They struck it in the chest and knocked it onto its back. It growled angrily and pushed itself back up to see Ralph swinging back around, coming in for another attack.

"Fire Punch!" Surge shouted angrily. Electabuzz again threw a punch at Ralph. Ralph simply shot past it, dodging its fist and spun around and released a wave of cutting wind at Electabuzz's back. Electabuzz stumbled forwards slightly and growled viciously under its breath.

"Oh for God's sake!" Surge roared, irritated to damnation that the fight was going so long. "Swat this Bat down already!" Electabuzz's growl grew in strength until it became a furious roar. As Ralph came back in for another attack Electabuzz raised its palms flat in the air, creating a cross. Ralph was about to crash into Electabuzz when Electabuzz swung its arms down and struck Ralph on the head as he rammed into its chest. The two Pokémon skidded across the field and lay atop each other, unconscious on the floor. Neither of them budged in the slightest. Surge and Joe stared stunned by the final outcome of the fight.

"So who won?" Winter shouted from the stands.

"I…" Surge stuttered. "I actually have no idea. I've never had this happen before. Both Pokémon feint at the same time. They never exactly told me how to deal with this in the job description." He waved his hands desperately in the air. Joe looked sadly at his unconscious Pokémon.

"Does this mean I lost?" He asked simply.

"Maybe." Surge admitted truthfully to him. "I'm sorry to have to say this kid but…" Surge started dramatically. "You've…" He stopped, suddenly seeing something that surprised him even more. Joe followed his gaze back to the unconscious Pokémon on the field… and gasped, amazed. Winter and Rocky saw it too. From the pile of Purple and Yellow that lay in the field one of the two Pokémon stirred. Then it flinched and shook slightly. Its head tilted slightly. One eye opened. Weakly it pushed itself up and began to stand. It arose on its two feet and held itself up weakly on its arms. Joe couldn't believe the chances. Neither could Surge. Ralph, The giant Purple, Poison/Flying, Bat Pokémon… was still standing. He panted heavily, clearly struggling to stay up but he managed to keep himself standing for the moment. He looked up, his two large yellow eyes determinedly staring at both Joe and Surge. He smiled at the two humans and flapped his wings slowly. His expression said only one thing.

'Still… Not… Beaten!'

Surge turned and stared at Joe, mouth agape.

"It appears that this battle has been won after all." He said dramatically. Joe looked up at him, just as surprised. "Trainer, I feel that you have earned this now." He held out a palm to Joe. On his palm was a small Octagon shaped yellow badge. "I hereby admit defeat and give you the thunder badge as a symbol of my defeat." Joe took the badge and added it to the other two he had kept in a small metal case in his bag. Surge then gripped his hand and shook it firmly. "Kid your Pokémon managed to surprise me today. Standing up to my Electabuzz is not something most could do. You have some real skill." He let go of his hand and shooed him out. "You've got the unquenchable spirit of an electric type Pokémon. Better not lose it." and with that he shoe'd Joe and the others out of the gym in no time.

"Well he was a polite man." Joe said, sarcastically, his arm around Ralph helping to keep him up.

"He certainly doesn't like wasting time, does he?" Rocky added.

"And what is the plan now?" Winter asked.

"Now I find a nice bed to sleep in for the night." Joe said, simply, yawning loudly. Ralph yawned two. "I've had a long day and I need some sleep for once." "And please don't let me have another dream again tonight." He added, quietly to himself.

Luckily Joe didn't dream that night. He might have but he didn't notice, he was just so tired his brain didn't have the energy to dream. The group had been able to set up a camp outside the city. They had quickly made a campfire as they found night arrived quickly and Joe and Winter had spent a little time healing up his Pokémon during that time. The next day. They got up relatively late and began their journey again. They only had one way to go now. Back the way they had come. Route 11 had been blocked off due to an incident a couple of days before. The only other way to Celadon City, the next city with a gym, was through Rock Tunnel in route 10. They packed up, healed up and set out again for Cerulean City. As they walked they were watched by two pairs of eyes, one yellow, and one brown. The eyes followed them through the tree line, past the river on route 6, past Cerulean city and on down route 9… towards Rock Tunnel.


	14. Chapter 14: Trapped in Rock Tunnel

"That's it, there." Joe exclaimed, glad and exhausted.

"Looks like it." Rocky panted, struggling to keep going. The trio had been walking for a day strait and were really glad to finally reach their destination. Rock Tunnel. The tunnel itself wasn't terribly large but there was a lot more underneath that they would have to make their way through. The sun had already begun to set behind the hills, however, leaving little time for the group to do any more travelling.

"It's a bit too late to do any more walking tonight." Winter told them logically. "Besides, my feet are killing me."

"Let's set up camp here." Rocky said, pointing to a small patch of grass next to a Pokémon centre outside the tunnel.

"Good thinking." Joe told him, exhausted. Even Ralph was struggling to stay up. He had one wing wrapped around Joe's shoulders while slowly flapping with the other wing to keep him up in the air. He was slowly starting to fall asleep however. "I think we'd better get set up quickly before we all collapse." Joe added, holding up his friend.

Setting up camp had been little trouble. They simply found a couple of nearby logs, set up a fire and placed the seats around them. As night came the group lay down around the fire, leaning against the logs, their bags sitting around them. Ralph lay eyes half open next to Joe, wings folded around his body. Winter lay against and opposite log, her coat wrapped around her body to keep her warm. Rocky lay opposite the both of them against his Onix, Crash's tail. Chopper lay on the tip of crash's tail as well. He had fallen asleep the second the sun had dropped behind the horizon. Joe again was holding something in his hands, twisting it around and looking it over thoroughly. He turned Ralph's pokéball over and over, examining every bit. But he saw nothing else. Apart from the colour and initials cut into the back there wasn't anything else that seemed strange. He spun it on his palm with one finger and watched it closely. Ralph watched him do so, slightly confused by his curiosity towards it. To him it was just another Pokémon. Colour or letter made no difference to him. Joe sighed, slightly bored. He wasn't tired enough to fall asleep yet but siting around like this was tedious. He put the pokéball back on his belt and clapped his hands together quietly. Winter looked up, looking a bit bored as well.

"So" She said simply. Rocky, Joe and Ralph looked up surprised by her sudden speech. She suddenly quietened down now that everyone was suddenly paying attention to her. "What type of Pokémon do you prefer?" She asked, quietly. Joe and Rocky seemed to think about this.

"Well I was a Rock type user as you know so I guess I'd say that they're my preferred type." Rocky started. "But if I could choose any type I guess I would say…" He stopped, suddenly thinking about that he would say. "Dragons." He said finally. "I've always wanted to train dragon types. It's always been a dream of mine." He was starting to get excited by the idea. He then suddenly calmed down. "But I don't think I'll ever get the chance." He said sadly. "It's just a dream after all." There was a short silence. "What about you, Winter." He then asked. "What Pokémon would you prefer to work with?" Winter though for a second.

"Don't tell Staryu I said this…" She began quietly. "But I'd love to have a team full of Ice types. Imagine it. A team full of freezing cold ice type Pokémon, able to freeze anyone who stood in our way."

"Sounds a little psychotic when you put it like that." Rocky joked.

"But I can see it actually working for you. I mean you have a name that relates to the," Joe added. He held his hands in the air and spread them out like he was placing a banner in the air. "Winter! The Legendary Ice Type Trainer!" He announced. They laughed. Then there was another short pause.

"What about you, Joe?" Winter asked. "What type would you like to use most?" Joe thought for a second. He'd never really considered having a team with a specific type.

"I don't know." He told them. "I've never considered the idea."

"Go on. Have a go." Winter urged on. "Just think about it and say." he though for several seconds. Then he finally decided on a type.

"Bird Pokémon." He said finally. "I would love to work with Bird Pokémon."

"Bird Pokémon." Rocky repeated, a little surprised by his choice. "To be honest I nether thought that would be your answer. I thought it would have been something like fighting or fire or even poison."

"Poison, too." Joe added, giving a smart smile at Ralph as he said so. "They're a good type as well."

"I think technically they're called 'Flying' types now." Winter joined in. "Seeing as how some of them aren't actually birds."

"Smart ass." Joe joked, wittily. They all laughed.

"Another question." Rocky added after a couple of seconds. He hushed everyone quiet and gave a short, dramatic pause. "What have you always wanted to be?" He asked, simply. "And I mean like if you were given one specific job what would it be. Don't think logical likeliness to getting the job, just what you want to do." They all thought for a second.

"Well I spent the last five years under training by a gym leader so I suppose that would be my ideal job." Winter told him. Rocky nodded respectfully.

"For me I would love to be one of the Elite Four." Rocky told them. "I don't really care which elite 4 but I'd just love to be stronger than a gym leader yet not the champion."

"Joe?" Winter asked. "You got any specific job you've ever wanted?" Joe struggled to think of an answer. He'd never truthfully been sure about that kind of subject, even though it was the kind of think all kids were taught from a young age. Where they want to end up in the future.

"I genuinely don't know." He told them truthfully. "I don't think about that kind of stuff. I just do. You guys didn't know me when I started my training but on that day I couldn't decide on which starter to choose. And then I ran into Ralph and my story starts there."

"Well we're travelling around Kanto and taking on the Gym Leaders. Maybe that could lead towards whatever you decide to do." Rocky told him. Joe shrugged.

"I don't know." He said simply. Rocky yawning loudly. Ralph yawned as well.

"Well I'm exhausted." He announced, curling up against Crash's tail. Ralph too folded his wings against his body and drifted into a heavy sleep beside Joe. Now just Joe and Winter were still awake. The fire continued to crackle but it was beginning to die away.

"Where would you have got starter Pokémon from?" Winter asked Joe, quietly so as not to wake the others. Joe looked at her, a little confused by her question.

"Professor Oak, of course." He told her. Winter chuckled, slightly embarrassed.

"Of course. I forgot that you came from Pallet town."

"Just outside of Pallet Town." Joe corrected her. She nodded, again making a mistake.

"You never speak about your family." Winter told him. "I know you have an uncle. He sent you your bulbasaur – or Ivysaur now - and you said you don't have any parents. But what about the rest of your family. Grandparents? Aunt? Cousins?"

"No. Just me and my uncle. He's not married so he doesn't have any kids himself. I just have him." Joe explained, feeling a little saddened by how small his family really was. "But I'm used to it. I've lived with him all my life. I've never had anyone else around who would care for me so he's all I've ever had." He stopped, not wanting to continue talking. Winter saw his distress.

"I'm Sorry." She said, respectfully. "I didn't mean to make you upset. I was just curious."

"It's ok." Joe told her. "It doesn't matter." He lay back against the log. "I just want to sleep now."

"Sure." Winter said. She pulled her coat further up to cover her completely. "I just feel that you and Ralph meeting like that was a little too convenient." She added quietly. And with that she quickly dozed off. Joe was stumped suddenly by what she'd said. She had brought up something that had been nagging in the back of his mind for a while. But he was too tired to think about it now. He lay back, zipped his hoodie up fully to keep him warm and stared into the now dwindling fire. As his eyes closed shut he slowly drifted off to sleep.

The next morning the group woke up, packed up and set off into Rock Tunnel. They'd made sure they had enough supplies of potions, food and water to get them to Celadon City before they set of. Joe wasn't exactly looking forward to going back inside a cave. His last expedition into one had ended captured at the hands of team rocket. Ralph took the first look inside. As a bat he had no trouble seeing in the dark so he went in front, steering the group in the right direction. The tunnel was pitch black. Several times one of them nearly tripped up on a large stone and landed flat on their face. Before this point Joe had taken the time to teach Pippy the move flash, allowing him to light up any dark caverns or spaces. It took Pippy a little while to get it to work but after 5 minutes of stumbling through the dark he managed to illuminate enough of the cavern in front of them for the group to travel on without risk of injury. He sat on Joe's shoulder, Light glowing out from his cheeks. Joe stroked Pippy's head and he yapped proudly. They kept going, not wanting to stop just yet. All around them were dozens of eyes, staring at them from the dark, too afraid to show themselves. There was a screeching from above. As they looked up an entire swarm of Zubat flew over their heads and back down the tunnel. Still the group pressed on. Finally, after what felt like half a day, they could see a small glimmer of light in the distance.

"Finally" Joe exclaimed, exhausted. "The end of the tunnel is up ahead."

"Oh, thank god!" Winter shouted with relief. "I can't stand walking in the dark like this." They began to walk faster, eager to reach daylight again.

Meanwhile, not much more than 20 metres away.

"Come on, lads." Ruby said, encouragingly. "Careful with those nets." She glared at her two team mates. Ross and Frank were struggling to keep up, each of them holding a large metal net in both arms and panting terribly.

"One sec." Ross begged. "I'm exhausted. I need to rest."

"Me too." Frank added. "My spine is killing me."

"Frank, you don't have a spine." Ruby told him, factually. Frank glared at her.

"You get my point, though." He argued. "We've been carrying these things for hours now. Why don't you take one for a bit" Ruby snickered.

"I'm the leader of our group, aren't I? I don't do the work myself. That would make you two pointless." She said, slightly mocking them. "I do the thinking, you do the work."

"What are we even doing in here?" Ross asked.

"What we're always here to do." Ruby said, simply. "Catch rare Pokémon to sell."

"What rare Pokémon do you expect to find here?" Frank asked, grumpily.

"We'll see, I guess." Ruby replied. She stopped suddenly, holding up a hand to stop the others behind her. "Look, over there." She pointed into a corner on her left. A small, pail brown furred monkey like Pokémon was scraping around at the dirt. "Shhh" Ruby hushed them, quietly. "Be careful. It's a mankey. Don't alert it." She snatched the net from Frank's hands and raised it above her head as she snuck closer to the mankey. Mankey didn't notice the trio getting closer from behind. "Now!" Ruby shouted, swinging down the net. Ross too swung the net out at the mankey. At the last moment however mankey saw them. It shot aside as the nets swung down and ran off down the pathway. "Quick. After it!" Ruby cried. The trio gave chase. Mankey was far ahead of them now but Ross had begun to catch up, speeding ahead of the rest of his team. He was almost behind it now, able to reach out and grab it. Unfortunately he did not keep an eye on where he was going. As he ran his foot snagged on a rock and he tripped forward with a painful 'Umpf'. Ruby reached him a few seconds later, slowing down and looking apoplectic with rage. "What are you doing, Ross?" She shouted at him, gesturing wildly with her arms. "You let it get away."

"Sorry." Ross apologised, rubbing the arm he had fallen on. "I fell over that rock." He pointed to a small circular boulder that sat in the ground a foot away from him. To their surprise the boulder began to shudder and move. The ground around it broke apart slightly as something began moving its way out.

"I don't think that was a rock." Frank told them." Sure enough what they thought to be a large rock had pulled out a large set of muscular rock arms from the ground around it and used them to push itself out of the ground. It rolled over to show a large rocky face on the front with two large white eyes taking up one fourth of its face. "It glared, angrily at them. They had disturbed it from its sleep and it wanted to teach them a lesson.

"We woke up a geodude." Ruby said, slightly worried. They looked around to see more and more boulders uprooting themselves from the ground with large rocky arms.

"There's dozens of them." Ross noticed. The geodudes began punching their fists against the floor in a strange tempo. As the first one did so the others joined in. The ground began to shake, almost unnoticeably at first but it slowly got stronger and stronger and stronger. More boulders began to uproot themselves. Bigger boulders, around three feet tall. These ones had tinny hands in the centre of their lower chest and two huge arms protruding from their shoulders and stood on two tiny fat feet.

"Now there's gravelers, too." Frank complained. The gravelers began stomping the floor and punching the walls in rhythm with the smaller geodudes.

"What are they doing?" Ross asked.

"I think they're…" Ruby began. She was cut off by a sudden heavy rumbling. Bits of rock fell from the ceiling above and struck the floor nearby. The ground began to shake and crack around them. Ross stood himself up quickly as the trio began backing away.

"They're trying to bring down the roof!" Ruby shouted, now actually fearing for her own life. "Quick! Run!" They turned tail and ran off away from the falling rocks and quaking earth… Towards the blissfully unaware trainers now reaching the end of the tunnel.

"Do you hear that?" Joe asked, suddenly stopping and cupping a hand to his ear. He had heard the quiet rumbling in the distance. Rocky and Winter stopped and listened as well. Sure enough they could hear the rumbling from further down the tunnel.

"Yeah, I can." Winter agreed.

"Where is it coming from?" Rocky asked.

"I don't know." Joe admitted. He then peered into the dark. "What is that coming straight towards us?" He asked, pointing into the dark. As he peered he saw three figures charging in panic towards them. One of them was only a foot tall and made of a weird pink jelly.

"Is that…" Winter asked as they got closer. Team Ace shot past them in a blur of speed and fear.

"EARTHQUAKE!" Frank yelled as he ran past at incredible speed, Ross and Ruby not far behind him.

"RUN!" Ross shouted at them as he past. The group watched them pass, then turned back to see the ground behind them begin to shudder and split apart. The roof above started to crack and rocks began falling around them. They all looked at each other and, without needing to say anything, turned tail after Team Ace. They ran as fast as they could, dodging out of the way of falling rocks and panicking Pokémon. Pippy grabbed Joe's jumper and held on for dear life. Ralph tried not to fly too far ahead. If he did so and his friends were stuck in the cave he'd be on his own with no way to help them. The tunnel exit was almost in front of them now.

"We're nearly out!" Ruby cried, happily. All they needed to do was run out and they'd be fine. Suddenly there was a heavy thud and Frank collapsed to the ground unable to move. Ross and Ruby stopped suddenly and looked back at him. Frank lay crushed against the floor, a large flat rock lying on his back and pinning him down.

"Yeaaooch!" He cried in pain as the rock crushed him down. His head stuck out from underneath but he couldn't push it off.

"Frank!" Ruby cried and ran back for him. Ross followed closely, looking back at the tunnel exit, desperately. Ruby ran up to the rock and tried pulling it off but it was a lot heavier than it looked.

"Hurry up." Ross nagged. "The tunnel's collapsing. We need to go."

"We can't just leave him." Ruby argued with him. "He'll be stuck here alone if we do. We can't do that to him. We're a team!" She tried lifting the rock up again.

"Okay but hurry up or we'll be stuck here, too." Ross added. "Can't you just transform and break your way out?" He asked Frank.

"Not really." Frank argued with him, crankily. "I'm currently trying to stop this thing crushing me completely. You've no idea how tough this is!" Joe, Winter, Rocky, Ralph and Pippy shot past them and made a dash for the exit. As they came close Joe noticed cracks appearing on the roof and at the edge. The roof began to shake and shatter.

"It's going to collapse." Rocky cried. As soon as he did so the roof gave way and an army of rock and stone fell down in huge piles, covering up the entrance instantly. In seconds the light from outside disappeared in a field of dust.

"NO!" Joe exclaimed, desperately. They skidded to a stop as the last stone cluttered down the rubble and landed at their feet. The light from outside had completely gone now. They were all trapped there alone and in the dark.

"No." Winter shouted. "This can't be happening. We can't be stuck here." Joe ran up to the rubble and tried pulling away some of the stone. As he did so more rubble fell from above to take its place. He gave up, anger and sweat pouring from is face.

"God... Damn... It!" He shouted at the top of his voice as he thudded his fist against the stone.

"Joe, stop it." Rocky said, sadly. "It's too late. We're trapped in hear.

'Thwack! Thwack! Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!' Rocky's machop, Chopped punched away at the rock and rubble before them. He threw solid punches out, striking the rock but it barely dented. He began to pant, desperately, trying as hard as he could to break away the rock. He gathered all his strength into one arm and struck against the stone with all his might. He recoiled in pain and rubbed his throbbing fist. The rock he had hit had been left with a small crack in it.

"Forget it, Chopper." Rocky told his Pokémon. "It's too tough to break away." He then turned to his Onix, Crash. "Try smashing it down." He told him. Crash obeyed and charged at full speed towards the rock. He crashed head first it the rubble and was knocked away, barely even dislodging any of the rock. He coiled up behind Rocky in pain.

"Let us try and dissolve it away." Winter told him. She, too had here three Pokémon out. Staryu, Poliwag and Horsea. "Hydro Pump!" She commanded to all three of them. Each of them shot a large cannon of rapid water at the stone rock from either their chest, mouth or snout. The three beams met and created a huge wave of water that struck the stone barrier at full force. When they stopped, however, the wall had barely moved. Their moves hadn't worked. All they had managed to do was make the wall wet. Both Winter and her Pokémon looked deflated. "Damn it!" she cussed, annoyed. The group were starting to get very worried by their failure to remove the rubble from the exit. Joe, too, had his Pokémon out but most of them were still very young and wouldn't be able to do anything to the wall. He looked down at them to see they wanted to help in some way. Pitt was already readying a solarbeam to use on the wall. Pippy, Sting and Cinders were also excited to help out.

"You guys wouldn't be able to help." Joe told them, honestly. "We need brute strength and water to get this wall down." They looked slightly upset that he had put them down. "You can try." Joe added, trying to make them feel better. It was all he could do at that point. He didn't know how they were going to get out of there. His Pokémon quickly got to work on the wall. Sting thrust his drill onto the crack that Chopper had made and he began spinning the tip in a drilling motion. All he succeeded in doing was blunting the tip. He exclaimed in pain and surprise and retracted his arm from the wall. Pippy tried shooting a bolt of electricity at the wall but the bolt simply melted into the wall and disappeared. Cinders was scratching away at the rock but all he did was leave claw marks. He then proceeded to try using ember on the wall but the fire simply extinguished on the cold rock. Pitt tried to release his solarbeam but when he did he found he just didn't have the strength to. There just wasn't enough light in the tunnel for him to absorb and use for the attack to work. Joe sighed and sat down nest to Winter and Rocky who had also given up.

"This is hopeless." Winter said, exhauster and stressed. We just aren't doing anything to it."

"If we can't take it down then we can't get out." Rocky said simply. "No one knows we're down here."

"We may be able to get back out the way we came." Joe told them, hopefully. "Ralph went to check. He should be back soon." As he said it they heard the recognisable fluttering of four bat like wings getting closer from behind them. They turned and saw Ralph coming towards them. He didn't look happy however. "Ralph." Joe called out. Ralph looked up at him. "What did you find? Can we still get back out that way?" Ralph just looked at him, desolately. He slowly shook his large purple head as he reached the group again. "No?" Joe repeated, sadly, and then afraid, then angry. "No? We're truly trapped in here! How did this even happen?" His eyes looked past Ralph, towards the other two that were still trying to free their Pokémon from under the rock. Ross and Ruby hadn't managed to even budge the rock from off Franks back but they weren't giving up. They had hardly noticed that the tunnel had collapsed in front of them. "Team Ace." Joe growled under his breath. He pushed Ralph out of the way and stormed off, towards the other Pokémon Team. Ross saw him coming towards them and stood up to face him.

"Finally you guys notice us in trouble." He said, pompously. Joe glared at him. "If you don't mind could you give us a hand and help free… umph" Joe struck out and pushed him back with both hands. Ross stumbled backwards and nearly tripped up over Ruby's feet. He looked back at Joe surprised by his reaction.

"Hey." He cried, astonished. "What was that for?" Joe just glared at him.

"Why is it whenever you three turn up there's always trouble?" He asked, furiously. "What did you do this time, because whatever it was its trapped us in here together!"

"Us!" Ross shouted, stunned. "We had nothing to do with this! This wasn't our fault."

"Oh really." Joe said, sarcastically. "Well if that's the case why were you running for your life down the tunnel like that? Earthquakes like that don't just happen like that. You must have annoyed something. So what was it?" Ross shrugged his hands and held them up in a surrendering style.

"Alright. I surrender." He admitted. "We did manage to disturb a large family of geodudes and gravelers"

"That explains it all." Joe said, still angry at them. "What were you doing? Trying to catch rare Pokémon?" He mocked.

"Joe. Calm down." Winter interrupted, desperately. "This isn't helping."

"We didn't know that was going to happen!" Ross argued. We may be money grabbers but we're not malicious. Why would we want this? We're trapped in here as well as you." He pointed down at Frank who was still struggling to get out from under the rock. "We stayed behind to rescue our friend. We could have run of and left him here but we didn't."

"What are you trying to prove to me?" Joe asked. "That you're good people? Know what, I would have believed you if you hadn't tried to steal my Pokémon several times already."

"Oh stop it already!" Ruby shouted at the both of them." All four trainers turned to her, surprised by her sudden outburst. "Look at you two. Fighting about who brought this on us. What does that matter now? It's happened. What we need to worry about now is getting out. Frank is still stuck under this rock and he won't get out without our help. So could you both shut up and start working together on this. We can't do this alone!" Joe and Ross looked at each other.

"You're right." Joe admitted. "Sorry. Getting angry won't help us right now."

"And I'm sorry that we caused this whole incident." There was a short silence.

"Chopper. Help Frank out of there." Rocky told his machop. Chopper nodded and ran over to help Ruby. In no time he had lifted the heavy rock from Franks back and freed him.

"Now we need to come up with a way to escape." Joe told them.

"What's the point?" Ruby said, suddenly depressed. "You've already tried. You've seen how effective it is. We can't do anything to remove it."

"But we've got to try." Rocky told her. "We've got to brake or way out or we might die in here."

"Frank, couldn't you do something about it?" Winter asked the injured pink blob.

"What makes you think I could do anything?" Frank asked, slightly insulted.

"You can change shape." Rocky told him. "Couldn't you just turn into something like a machamp or a rhydon and break it down?

"Not right now." Frank told him. "I'm exhausted. Besides I'm not strong enough to remove that rubble. If all your Pokémon could hardly dent it then I don't stand a chance."

"Just try." Ruby told him, still sounding depressed. Frank sighed.

"Ok." He gave up, exhausted and upset. Quickly he morphed into his popular Machamp form and stepped up. He began punching the wall, two fists at a time. The wall cracked slightly but quickly he became tired. Rocky and Winter ordered their Pokémon to join in and help him. They quickly set in and attacked the wall, using punches, head-butts, hydro pumps and clawing to slowly erode the rock. It was clear now they were having an effect but it was a slight effect that was coming along very slowly and it was clear they were quickly getting exhausted by the work. Joe sat down on a flat rock and held his head in his hands. Ralph flew next to him, a wing around his shoulder to comfort. Winter and Rocky walked over and joined him. They all sat there, slightly shattered and all worried about the recent events. Joe sighed.

"This is a situation we've gotten into isn't it." Joe said aloud. Winter and Rocky nodded in agreement. They couldn't think of anything specific to say that would help.

"I don't know how we're going to get out of this." Rocky added after a while.

"We'll find a way." Winter told them. "We didn't give up when Team Rocket kidnapped us. We didn't give up when you were forced to fight for those gangsters. We didn't give up when Team Rocket stole the S.S. Falcon, and we aren't going to give up here. Right?"

"Right." Joe and Rocky grumbled simultaneously.

"Well at least I'm trying to be positive." Winter said, feeling disrespected. There was a short silence.

"Or families." Joe said suddenly and quietly, taking Rocky and Winter by surprise. "They don't know we're trapped in here. My Uncle thinks I'm out on some great adventure when really I'm trapped in this god damn tunnel!" He said angrily, a small tear appearing in his eye. He grabbed a small stone and threw it into the dark in front of him. The stone clattered away into the dark, the sound echoing all around.

"My brother is still in Pewter city." Rocky joined in, feeling saddened as well. "He's most likely challenging some trainer to a battle right now. That's always been him. He couldn't resist a battle." He smiled, sadly, remembering old memories. "He may be younger than me but He's always treated me like the younger brother. And I'm glad he did. If I didn't have him I'd never have had the strength to travel along with you guys." He admitted, his voice breaking slightly.

"I don't have anyone waiting for me." Winter admitted. "I've got some friends but not anyone who'd miss me. All my family is gone now. No one to go looking for me if I don't call home." She sighed, placing her hands over her face.

"I'm glad I met you guys." Joe told them, truthfully. He felt that if he was going to die then he needed to let them know how gratefully he was for them being there. "I really am. You guys have been great. All three of you have really changed by life." He gave a week smile to which he got three week smiles back.

"I'm glad we met, too." Winter told him, smiling back. "Both of you."

"Same." Rocky added. "I'm really glad we've met when we did." Ralph nudged Joe's shoulder, smiling as well. Joe nudged him lightly back and smile, giving a slight laugh. Winter and Rocky laughed, too.

Meanwhile most of the Pokémon had stopped to rest. Only Frank was still going. He was so desperate to escape that he wasn't even willing to stop and rest for fear of never getting out. Ruby and Ross were starting to get a little worried so they walked up to him. Ruby placed a hand or Frank's huge, muscular shoulder.

"Frank, you need a rest." She told him, seriously. "You're exhausted. Just take a five minute rest." Frank didn't pay her any attention. He just kept on working, sweat pouring down from his face and blinding his eyes. He wiped it away with one hand and kept punching. "Let one of the others take over for a while. Let Chopper take over."

"We need to get out of here, Ruby." Frank said, simply. "That's what I'm trying to do. Get us out of here."

"I know." Ruby told him, trying to comfort him. "But you can't do anything if you're exhausted. Just sit down with us for a second." Frank sighed and slowly stopped punching. He panted heavily and stood, hands drooping for a few seconds. Then he grabbed Ross with two strong arms and pulled them against his chest, crying heavily. He hugged him tight as large tears rolled down his beaked mouth.

"We're going to die in here!" He bawled loudly. "We'll never get out. We're going to be stuck in here forever."

"Ghhh… ghhhhhck!" Ross gurgled, trying to breathe while being crushed by Frank's huge arms. "Frank… You're… hurting…" He gasped, tapping his huge arm. Frank loosened his grip and let Ross go, where he panted for breath.

"Sorry." He apologised, wiping a tear from his face. "I'm just really upset right now."

"I understand." Ruby told him, kindly. "We're all struggling to hold on to hope right now. We just need to try. We can get out of here." Frank hugged her now, this time less tightly. Tears poured down his face.

"I love you guys." He bawled, loudly, voice breaking from the overcome of emotion. "You're both absolutely amazing."

"It's ok." Ruby told him, patting him on the shoulder. "It's ok."

"We… um." Ross coughed, really not wanting to say what he knew he needed to say. "We… We love you, too big guy." He choked and patted Frank's back. Frank embraced him as well and the trio stood there, holding each of them in their embrace.

An hour or so passed. None of the Pokémon had been successful at breaking through so far. Most of them had stopped now, either to rest or having lost hope in being able to break out. Joe had given up and had gone for a walk with his Pokémon back the way they had come. He did indeed find that the tunnel had been cut from the way they came. He stood standing in front of another large wall of rubble.

"There's no hope for us, is there?" He asked, rhetorically. Ralph, who levitated next to him, looked sadly at the floor. Joe got angry. He grabbed a stone from the floor and chucked it at a large crumbling boulder that was stuck in the rubble. It bounced off the side of the boulder and clattered about on the stone floor. Joe turned around, now feeling completely shattered and was about to walk away when he heard a loud, rustling earth sound from behind him. He stopped in mid step and slowly, cautiously turned around. The boulder that he had hit was quivering in its place. It raised up out of the ground and stood in front of him, a mass of dirt and stone. Its large flat head raised up and both its massive eyes stared directly at him.

"Oh dear." Joe exclaimed, backing away slowly. "A Golem." The Golem stared him down, looking this young trainer up and down, assessing the threat… Then suddenly it curled its arms, legs and head in and began rolling at full speed towards them. "Oh God!" Joe cried, jumping aside as the huge bolder Pokémon came rolling by and nearly flattened him with its huge, stony mass. Joe rolled back onto his feet and stood himself up. He pointed a finger towards the oncoming boulder and yelled "Pitt, Razor Leaf!" Pitt did as he was told, Releasing a wave of razor sharp crescent leaves at the rapid spinning rock Pokémon. The leaves struck its large body and bounced off, causing a lot of damage but it still kept coming. Before Pitt could attack again Golem Hit him square in the head and sent him rolling aside, unconscious. Joe ran over to him and helped him up but Pitt was just too exhausted to keep fighting. While Joe withdrew Pitt, Sting kept Golem busy, attracting its attention, avoiding rocks that were being thrown at it from left and right and throwing jabs when it found an opportunity. As Sting managed to get more hits in he got more careless, putting less effort into evading Golem's attacks. A large boulder was hurled through the air and swatted him out of the sky. Sting landed with a painful thud against the stony floor as the boulder shattered on the ground beside him. Joe tried to get to his unconscious Pokémon but the Golem blocked his way, keeping him back with wild arm slashes. It lunged out again with a large stone arm and was about to strike Joe's head when a small yellow mouse jumped onto its head and knocked it back. It stumbled around, trying to pull Pippy off its head with its two small arms. Pippy shot bolt after bolt of electricity into it but it didn't even seem to flinch. Clearly Golem was resistant to the electricity somehow. While Golem was distracted Joe slipped past and withdrew his unconscious Beedrill and sent Ralph in to help fight. While Pippy was busy distracting it, Ralph was taking strong blows with his wings at its back, causing slow damage each time. Cinders tried to join in but his flames bounced of its hard shell and its claws barely cut into its rocky skin. Golem simply kicked him away.  
"Ralph, Pippy, fall back!" Joe called and began running back the way he had come, Cinders following closely, just managing to keep up with him. As he did so he heard another thud and a sharp yelp of pain. The Golem had managed to pull Pippy from its head and had flung it away. Pippy lay, hurt on the rocky floor, barely able to move. Ralph turned taint, gripping the dazed Pikachu with his large mouth, being careful not to bite into it while he did so and followed suit after Joe and Cinders.

Joe Sped forwards, grabbing his Charmander and carrying him as he ran. Ralph and Pippy were not too far behind. Golem, however was suddenly speeding along and catching up with them. It rolled forwards at an alarmingly fast rate.

"There he is." Rocky said, spotting Joe running towards them through the dark, carrying his Charmander with him.

"Where did you go…?" Winter started. Then she saw the large boulder hurtling along the ground towards him. As Joe finally reached the others he put Cinders down and turned back, seeing Ralph not too far away, Golem not too far behind him.

"Where did that Golem come from?" Ruby demanded.

"It was further down the cave." Joe explained. "I, um… accidentally surprised it and it attacked." Ross and Frank looked at him, cynically.

"Trying to catch rare Pokémon, were we." Ross mocked, getting revenge for Joe's outburst earlier. Joe looked at him, slightly annoyed that they decided this was the time to mock him.

Ralph was almost next to them now. Golem, however wasn't slowing down. It speed forward, going even faster and finally caught up with the escaping Pokémon. It rolled up behind Ralph and sped straight past him, hitting him from behind and sending him flying into the air as it did so. Ralph winced and clenched his jaw, biting down on Pippy's stomach as he did so. Pippy let out a loud painful squeak as Ralph summersaulted through the air. Ralph's jaw slacked as he screeched, releasing the small yellow mouse through into the air and the two of them landed painfully onto the ground. Joe spun around at the sound of his Pokémon in pain and saw the large purple bat and the small yellow mouse unconscious together on the floor. Golem stopped rolling and skidded to a halt. It was busy checking out the new trainers it had found, assessing how much of a threat each of them was. Suddenly it turned around and began rolling back towards the two unconscious Pokémon.

"It's going in for another attack." Joe exclaimed. "Quick, Cinders, Do something!" He commanded desperately. Cinders tried. He let out a plume of smoke that landed in front of Golems face, blinding it for a short time. It then tried to use ember again but the same thing happened. The fire just bounced back as if the stone it was made of acted like a mirror, reflecting the weak fire. Golem stopped in its tracks, coughing in the thick black smoke and turned back to glare at the small red lizard. It thudded back towards the trainers and their Pokémon, ignoring Ralph who was slowly trying to get back up onto his feet. It charged, stony head lowered to ram them all away. Cinders tried shooting another plume of smoke from its mouth and engulfed Golem in it but it kept coming, gaining speed quickly.

"Cinders, Move!" Joe called, running up to grab his Pokémon but cinders held out a hand to stop him. He wanted to take on Golem alone. There was nothing the others could do to help. Joe was a human, not a Pokémon so he could only command Cinders, not replace him. The other humans were in the same situation and Cinders wasn't prepared to listen to some of them. And as for Frank Cinder's didn't exactly trust him. The other Pokémon however could help. They hadn't properly noticed the Golem yet, however and were busy still trying to bring the wall down. He turned and yelped for help. Chopper turned and saw the Golem finally. He shouted in surprise and tapped Stream the Poliwag next to him who alerted the other three Pokémon. The second they saw the current threat they stopped work and took action. Cinders stood his ground, keeping the Golems attention on him. While he did so the other Pokémon took up different positions in the area to take it on. As Golem got closer and closer Cinders prepared his attack. Just before Golems large, flat, stony head struck Cinders stomach and sent him flying, Cinders fired another plume of smoke. This time it struck Golem strait in the face and blinded it. As it covered its eyes and tried to regain its sight it lashed out, nearly hitting Cinders. Fortunately for him, Cinders had dodged aside before he could be hit. As Golem got its sight back it saw a grey muscular figure charging, fists clenched and pulled back straight towards it. Before it could react Chopped struck it in the stomach with tremendous might and sent it flying backwards, leaving a crater in the ground. Golem began struggling to its feet only to find a huge torrent of water pushing it back. River and Stream were using their hydro pumps to do a heavy amount of damage, keeping the Golem confused and pinned down. When it finally managed to get back onto its feet it roared angrily and began slowly stomping its way back to Cinders. Something then suddenly struck it from behind and it toppled forwards, leaving another large crater in the ground. Crash had curled up behind where Golem had landed before and when it got up he has struck its legs out from underneath it with his large stone tail. It then smashed its tail down on Golem's tough back and it was crushed into the ground. Joe, Rocky, Winter, Ruby, Ross and Frank were all watching amazed and excited.

"I can't believe our Pokémon are co-ordinating this attack." Rocky said, laughing in awe. Winter and Joe nodded in agreement.

"On their own they can do little to hurt it but working together like this it can't do anything to fight back." Joe said aloud. He looked back at the rubble blocking their exit. An idea popped into his mind. It was a long shot but it might just work. "Cinders." Joe called out. The small Charmander heard him and looked back. "Steer the Golem into the rubble. Make it clear the exit for us." Cinders looked a bit confused on how he would be able to make it do that. He guessed asking it was out of the question. Then he thought of a way. Quickly and with the attitude of a war commander, Cinders began barking commands to the other Pokémon.

"Will this work?" Winter asked.

"I hope it does." Joe told her truthfully. "It might be the only way we can get out of here. I know Cinders can get it to make the mistake we need it to." Cinders finished his commanding and the other Pokémon backed off… except for Cinders and Crash. Cinders raised a hand into the air. Crash watched him carefully, keeping his heavy tail on Golem's back, keeping it pinned to the ground. Cinders then lowered his hand sharply and began running towards the rubble behind him. Golem got up in a flash and began rolling after the small Charmander. While this chase was taking place Chopper took the advantage to run and grab Ralph and Pippy and bring them back to their trainer. Ralph was already half conscious and beginning to weekly get back up. Pippy meanwhile was struggling to move any part of his body. Chopper run up, scooped up Pippy, helped up Ralph and all three of them sped back to their trainers. Cinders meanwhile was running for his life. He knew what he had to do and where he was going but the Golem chasing him was quickly getting closer and closer. He quickly found that the large wall of rubble was right in front of him, however. Cinders turned around to face the high speed boulder. Before it could roll into him and flatten him, Cinders dived aside and Golem crashed into the wall, leaving a huge dent in the side. All five of the trainers, and Frank, gasped in astonishment.

"Golem is strong enough to damage the wall." Winter noted. "That means your plan can work."

"Keep it up, Cinders." Joe called encouragingly. While Golem was trying to pull itself back out of the rock Cinders shot out a small ember into its face, taking it by surprise and causing a little damage. Golem lashed out but Cinders dodged its attack. Golem tried to ram him but Cinders dodged again, making it his another part of the wall. Golem had decided it had had enough. Without warning it grabbed a huge rock from the ground and flung it at Cinders as he dodged aside from another attack. The rock hit him square in the chest and he crashed backwards onto the floor. Golem looked evilly over him. Cinders pushed himself back onto his feet. He was not very happy at all. They both glared at each other, evilly. Then Golem charged. Cinders Drew in a large breath. Before Golem could collide with him Cinders drew back a claw and as Golem came close, struck out. But instead of hardly hurting it, Cinders' claws cut strait through the stone shell and Golem was knocked to one side by the force created from the attack. Cinder stared in surprise and looked down at its claws. They glistened silver like steel. He clenched them together and prepared to attack again. As Golem Recovered Cinders lashed out again, this time striking Golems side. Golem lent against the wall in pain. It lashed out but Cinders jumped backwards. Golem ran up to Strike Cinders but Cinders had prepared himself. He took in a huge breath and, as Golem got closer, breathed out, sending a huge plume of scorching fire dead ahead and engulfing Golem in the flames. As the fire continued to spew out a small ember flickered out of the flames and floated slowly around Cinders himself. As the seconds passed more and more small embers began to float around him. They quickly got faster, fusing with more embers to create a huge flame that quickly engulfed the entirety of the small Charmander's body.

"Cinders!" Joe cried. Having absolutely no idea what was happening. He went to run up and help his Pokémon out but found a hand stopping him. Rocky shook his head.

"Don't." Rocky said. "It's ok. He's not in any trouble." As he said so the fire grew larger, almost twice the size of Cinders. Slowly after this it began to fade away. Before it could disappear entirely a huge wave of flame burst from it, sending absolutely everything flying. Joe grabbed his hat and winter and Rocky grabbed a stalagmite next to them. Ross, Ruby and Frank grabbed each other as the huge wave of fire burst past them all. Golem was sent crashing into the wall and slumped to the ground, exhausted. The fire suddenly died away. Where it had been stood Cinders, still awake, still fighting. He was no longer the small, fragile Charmander he had been a minute before however. He was still the same colour, red, and was still obviously a lizard but now he was a three foot tall, long tailed, large clawed, fanged, dragon like lizard. He was no longer Charmander. Now he had evolved into Charmeleon. All his friend Pokémon cheered with delight at his accomplishment. The humans cheered and clapped, too. Joe rushed up and hugged his, not small anymore, friend. He found quickly that not only was Cinders bigger than before but he was also a lot heavier. Joe struggled to lift him up from the floor. Cinders looked surprised and slightly embarrassed. He was still getting used to his new body. Cinders hugged Joe back, smiling happily for their appreciation. Ralph joined the two of them, now feeling better since his attack. He patted Cinders on the back with one wing and they all began walking back to the group.

There was a sudden surprising grumble from behind them. All three of them stopped and turned around in surprise. Golem was awake again, looking furiously at them. Instead of causing an earthquake or throwing a rock it simply sat there, looking at them. Then suddenly light began to emit from its body, dim at first but it was beginning to get brighter and brighter by the second. Its groaning got louder and louder as the light got brighter and brighter. A horrible truth shook Joe aware and he looked, terrified at the large rock Pokémon. He suddenly spun around and shouted aloud.

"RUN! IT'S GOING TO EXPLODE!" he, Cinders and Ralph bolted, leaving the Golem stuck in the rock. The others quickly dived behind the closest rock or stalagmite they could find. A few seconds after there was a flash of light, a roar of sound and then followed a huge eruption of force. Joe, Cinders and Ralph were flung forwards as the force hit them in the back. The tunnel shattered. The debris sailed out of the tunnel and a sudden storm of bright sun light came in from the entrance. Then, as suddenly as it had happened, the noise, light and force faded away. As the force of the explosion died down they all came out from cover. The Tunnel exit had been blown clean open, leaving a huge cracked and broken roof above them, the wall that had blocked their way had been reduced to dust and the Golem that had attacked them was nowhere to be seen. In a kind of hypnotic daze all of them slowly walked outside and stood, covered in stone dust and the now fading sunlight. Their eyes took a while to adjust to the light but when it did they all breathed a sigh of relief.

"How long had we been in there?" Winter asked. Joe looked at his watch.

"It was 8:15AM when we went in, and its 6:20PM now. So we've been in there 10 hours." He deducted.

"Really?" Winter asked, surprised. "That short a time? Felt like days to me."

"I still can't believe we managed to get out of there." Rocky added. "Good thinking getting that Golem to do the job for us." He congratulated Joe.

"I couldn't have done it without the help of our Pokémon, of course." Joe Added, patting Cinders on the head. Cinders yapped happily. "Now I think someone owes us an apolo…" He said, turning to talk to Team Ace only to find Team Ace were no longer there. He looked around vigorously but couldn't see anyone else for miles around.

"Where did they go?" Winter asked.

"No Idea." Joe told her "But right now I don't care. They'd just better make sure they don't come across me on a bad day again." He warned. "Now let's just set up camp. I'm exhausted and I don't want to do anymore traveling until I've had a good long rest from this experience." There was no argument with that decision. Quickly the group set up camp and before they even noticed they were all fast asleep. Joe found himself in an unusual dream. Not one of the more recent usual ones but a different one. In this dream he saw Cinders his Charmander – Charmeleon - and Ralph his Crobat standing back to back in the black nothingness of dreams. Surrounding them were dozens upon dozens of angry Golems, each staring directly at them. They were not afraid, however. The Crobat and the Charmeleon stood their ground and, as one, they lunged out, taking care of any man or Pokémon that dared to stand against them.


	15. Chapter 15: Goodbye Sting

**_Warning!_**** This chapter contains content that may upset or alarm readers. Nothing violent or gruesome but anyone with high emotional levels, who doesn't like sad moments or doesn't like to read about death may wish to skip this chapter. It will have a major effect on the rest of the story, however so it is recommended that you read it.**

_**Reader discretion is advised.**_

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In his mind, Joe could hear nothing. Just the empty silence of an empty black dream. He looked around but nothing was to be seen. There was nothing but space all around him. Then a sudden surprising bang. A gun shot. From where he could not see but the sound seemed to echo all around him. He heard himself cry out. At first he thought it was in pain but he quickly realized it was in grief. Someone, not himself, had been shot. There was another sound… crying. He was crying. He didn't know why yet but somehow all of this was linked. He found himself suddenly kneeling down on the floor. He appeared to be cradling something in his arms but when he looked down he couldn't see anything but his own hands. A figure faded in his arms. He couldn't make out a specific shape or colour but he knew it was someone or something he cared about. He still couldn't see what it was. Then suddenly he knew what had happened. He knew who it was laying in his arms… and he screamed. In pain. Of physical pain, of sadness, of loss… then of furious, unquenchable, unstoppable anger.

Joe suddenly woke up, sitting bolt upright where he had lay. The sun was beginning to rise behind the mountain. The dream he had just had was already fading from his mind. He had already forgotten why he was sad but he knew it must have been something very important to him. He looked around. Ralph lay, still sleeping next to Joe's bedroll, half covered by the mats edge. On the opposite side of him lay Winter with her Staryu and Rocky with his Onix. Joe rubbed his eyes as the sun hurt his vision. He blinked, went to stand up and was smacked in the face by a large purple wing.

"Ow." He exclaimed in pain. Ralph turned over and looked up at him, seeing Joe's annoyed face looking down at him. "Ralph!" He snapped, unhappily. "That hurt!" Ralph looked apologetically at his friend. He wasn't even aiming to hurt his friend. He'd just unconsciously reacted when he was waking up to Joe's movement. Joe got up, grabbed his bag which lay beside his bedroll and quietly snuck away from the camp and around a rocky corner. He left the others sleeping as he'd decided to spend a bit of time sparring with his Pokémon, to train them up for the next gym. He had full confidence in them of course but he felt it would be a good idea to practice with them and help create tactics. He found a small clean pond near the forest edge not too far away from their camp and released all five of his Pokémon. He trained with all five of them, starting with Sting. Joe held his palms out flat like punching gloves.

"Ok." Joe said, explaining quickly and energetically, hopping from foot to foot, keeping Stings attention. "Aim to hit my hands. Of course don't actually hit me." Joe added. Sting dashed forwards and Joe narrowly evaded being jabbed in the side by a long drill. Another drill was jabbed in his direction and Joe caught it with his palm. Sting lunged again and again Joe's palm blocked its attack. Sting shot past Joe in a blur of speed and lunged out with both drills at Joe's back, prodding him forwards. Joe exclaimed in pain and turned around. He clapped and patted his Pokémon on the shoulder. "Good work, Sting" Joe congratulated. Next was Cinders and Pitt, together. Joe go the two of them to fight each other. He had Pitt use razor leaf and told Cinders to try swatting away each of the leaves that came close. They both did exactly that. Pitt released a volley of sharp crescent shaped leaves at Cinders and Cinders raised his claws and lashed out. He successfully hit each of the leaves and knocked them harmlessly away to the ground, taking no damage at all. Finally Joe got Pippy and Ralph to fight each other. While Pippy shot small bolts of electricity at Ralph, Ralph would dodge out of their way and try to land a hit on Pippy. The bolts weren't strong enough to do any proper damage but they were enough to stun Ralph for a second or two. Ralph also was not aiming to hurt Pippy. He simply would tap him with the side of his wing when he got close enough to attack. When Joe had decided that his Pokémon had had enough practise he stopped them, packed up and returned to the camp. When he got back an hour and a half had passed and the others were up and moving now.

"Where have you been?" Winter asked, spotting Joe and his Pokémon returning back to the camp.

"Training." Joe explained, simply. "There's a clearing round the corner and a nice pond, too. Might want to go there yourself." Rocky passed him a ham sandwich which Joe tucked into immediately.

"You could have told us where you went." Rocky told him. "We thought you might have run of or even got into trouble."

"Me, in trouble?" Joe laughed, nearly choking on his sandwich. "Never. Not me."

"We ought to head off soon." Winter told them. "We're not too far away from Lavender town now and we should be there in not much more than an hour's travel."

"We'd better get moving then, hadn't we?" Joe told them.

It didn't take the group long to clear their camp and set off on their way again. The road ahead was rocky but fairly open, a unique landscape in comparison to where they usually travelled through. Most of that journey was rather boring, considering that the group had just survived being trapped inside a cave. Occasionally a trainer would challenge one of them to a battle but most of them were no trouble to take on. Only 2 miles away from Lavender town the group ran into a trainer that they knew, quite well.

"Tom, you fool." Joe cried, happily, rushing forwards to hug his old friend.

"It's good to see you, too." The trainer replied, hugging Joe back. Tom stepped back and he greeted Rocky and Winter who greeted him back. "So how have you all been?" He asked.

"Ok right now." Joe explained. "We had an incident involving Team Ace, Rock Tunnel, a Cave in and a Golem but apart from that it's all been good."

"Them lot again?" Tom asked "I thought you were on good terms with them now."

"Well that seems to have changed." Rocky explained.

"Were you guys heading to Lavender town?" Tom asked, suddenly changing the subject.

"Yes we were, actually." Winter told him. "Were you heading the same way?"

"Yeah." Tom told her. "Not delivering anything, this time. Just passing through. We could team up for the journey if you want. I've got time."

"Sure. That'd be great." Joe told him. "Besides, we need to have another battle, don't we?"

"Indeed." Tom agreed.

The group continued on together. It did not take them long to arrive at Lavender town. When they arrived, however there appeared to be something going on. Something big was going down at the centre of the town. It seemed like a fight but they couldn't see any Pokémon moving about. Occasionally and angry shout came out from someone inside the crowd.

"Rocket scum" One of them shouted.

"Take your nets else ware. Leave our dear departed Pokémon alone" Another shouted.

"Sounds like they've surrounded a couple of Team Rocket grunts." Winter said aloud.

"I'd like to see for myself." Joe told her. He tried to push through the crowd but it was too thick and he was pushed back by the tide of people.

"What is happening here?" Rocky asked.

"We need to get a better view." Joe deducted. "So how do we do that?"

"Abra." Tom said, suddenly. "Abra can teleport. We could have one of us hang on to it and I can get it to teleport above the crowd."

"Good thinking." Joe complemented him. "I'll go up there." He offered.

"Ok then." Tom pulled out a pokéball and released his Pokémon, abra. Abra took a second and listened to tom's instructions. "Abra, Take Joe above the crowd and keep him there so he can see what's going on. Also make sure he doesn't fall or hurt himself." Abra nodded and floated up to Joe and held out a small yellow hand. Joe took it and the very second after he did… The entire world seemed to ripple, crack and explode all at the same time. In Joe's eyes everything he could see around him was sucked into a large wormhole in the centre of his sight, even himself. He felt like he was being pulled from every limb in every direction, his ears rang, his mouth felt numb and his brain felt like soft cream cheese. This entire sensation lasted for less than a second before Joe and Abra finally reappeared some 20 feet above the ground. Joe felt nauseous, confused, head aching and limp. Reappearing in one piece was surprising uncomfortable. His mouth had hung open during the entire time, giving a silent scream as he arrived back. The first thing his mind told him was close it, quick. His stomach was gurgling and it was all he could do not to hurl from the experience. The crowd bellow would not have been happy about that. He suddenly noticed how high up he was. He looked down, gave a small cry of surprise and fear and grabbed Abra's arm with both hands. Abra didn't even seem to be effected by Joe's added weight. Joe gulped down his fear and tried focusing on the centre of the crowd. Sure enough in the midst of it all were three Team Rocket grunts.

"Team Rocket, after all." Joe thought aloud. "No surprise there. But what are they doing here?" He peered closer, making sure he kept his grip. At second glance he noticed that the grunt in the middle was wearing the now very recognisable white suit and hat of a commander. He also spotted an eye patch over the man's right eye. "Cheng." Joe growled under his breath. "He's back then." The Commander had started to speak now. He seemed to be addressing the entire crowd.

"Listen here, People of Lavender town." He announced, shouting the words over the crowd, loud enough to be heard over a mile away. "Team Rocket is here. We are here for our purposes and should you stay out of the way no harm shall befall any of you."

"Boo!" The crowd shouted in reply. "What do you want with the tower?"

"That is for us to know. It does not concern you. Your own concern should be keeping your distance from us and the Pokémon tower" The commander replied.

"It bloody well does matter to us!" Someone shouted from the crowd. The commander appeared to sigh, disappointed.

"Have it your way." He announced finally. He raised his arms dramatically and the crowd quietened down, all suddenly paying attention to him. "I will return in 3 hours' time. With me shall be an entire platoon of Team Rocket members. If any of you stand in our way we shall not hesitate to swipe you down where you stand. This is your only warning!" And with that he turned to the two guards behind him. "We're done here." Joe heard him whisper to them. They nodded and turned around, pushing a path through the crowd. As they walked away Joe tugged Abra's arm.

"Ok, take me down. Gently" Joe added. He tensed himself for the moment that they would teleport but it still took him by surprise. After experiencing what could only be called 'being turned inside out, shaken, wringed and turned back the right way again.' He felt that he couldn't keep his insides inside any longer. He took a second to get himself together before he joined the others. By that time the crowd had already departed.

"It's Team Rocket." Joe told them, panting from the stress that came from teleporting. "They're stirring everyone up again."

"Yeah, we could hear what he was saying from here." Rocky told him. Joe seemed deflated by this.

"It was Commander Cheng. He's back." He added.

"Oh, him." Rocky mumbled.

"What would they want with the Pokémon tower?" Winter wondered. "The only thing in there is the graves of people's Pokémon. There's no living Pokémon in there so why would they be interested in it?"

"That's a good point." Tom agreed. "It doesn't make sense. They're thieves. What there worth stealing from a grave?"

"Some people do that kind of thing." Rocky told them. "They dig up the graves of the dead and steal any valuable items they were buried with. It's sick but some people do do that."

"But what valuable objects would be buried with Pokémon?" Tom asked, questioningly.

"Guy's, I don't think its likely Team Rocket are after objects." Joe interrupted. "They're Pokémon thieves. They steal people's Pokémon."

"Who knows what they want with the tower." Winter decided for them. "The only thing I know right now is we need to stop them." The group fell silent. No one seemed to know what to add.

"They said they're be back in 3 hours." Tom said suddenly. Everyone in the group stared at him. "What do we do till then?"

"Maybe we should make a plan." Winter volunteered.

"We could try." Joe agreed. "But how would you plan against Team Rocket. There's only four of us. We could probably take out a lot of grunts but there would be too many to fight all of them."

"I have an idea… Well a bit of an idea." Winter added. "It's about half 10 right now. It'll be 1:30 when they come back. We could try hiding behind the buildings here and taking them by surprise."

"It's the best plan we have right now." Tom agreed.

"Ok then. We'll scout out the area and find good places for the ambush." Joe added. He heard footsteps coming closer from behind him. He spun around and saw three of the worst trainers he needed around right now. Walking down the street towards them, completely oblivious was Team Ace. Frank had taken his human form for some reason. They kept walking, even when they noticed Joe and his friends standing in their way.

"Oh look who it is." Frank announced. "It's the fantastic four and their flying pile of purple sludge." Ralph growled angrily. Purple sludge was not the kind of description he preferred to be known by, especially from a walking pile of jelly.

"What are you doing here?" Rocky asked, defensively.

"Our own business." Ruby told him. "Calm down, we're not here to pester you."

"I'll be surprised if you're of any help to us." Tom told them, defensively.

"You were saying something about Team Rocket." Ruby continued, ignoring tom's comment about them.

"They're planning to attack the tower later today." Joe informed them. "We don't know why but we're not going to sit around and let it happen."

"Like we even needed to ask that." Ross added.

"We're going to be the only one's standing against them." Rocky told them. "Even though all four of us are strong enough to take them on we won't be able to defeat all of them on our own." He stopped. He knew what he had to ask but considering who they were talking to it wasn't the most agreeable choice for all of them. "We could use your help." Ruby, Ross and Frank looked to each other, relatively surprised.

"Really?" Ruby asked. Joe sighed, embarrassed to agree with Rocky's opinion.

"Yes." He mumbled.

"You four want _us_ three to help _you_?" Frank asked, surprised but suspicious.

"Yes, ok! We do need your help!" Joe said, loudly and uncomfortably. "Now are you going to help us or not?" Team Ace looked to each other again, a sinisterly chuffed smile appearing on each of their faces.

"Ok." Ruby said, simply.

"Wait, what?" Joe asked, confused.

"Ok. We'll help you." She repeated, slightly louder but with the same care less attitude.

"Really?" Rocky asked, surprised by their response. "You're not going to ask for anything in return or something like that. You're just going to help us?"

"Well, now that you mention it…" Frank began. Joe butted in quickly.

"No, no, it's ok. We accept your help." Frank looked back at him, slightly annoyed he didn't get a chance to set a bargain with them. But a deal was a deal. They said they were going to help and they would help.

Three hours later and everything was prepared. Together they had come up with a plan and strategy to take on Team Rocket and possibly stand a chance of winning. It was taking a little while to explain it to the empty minds of Ross and Frank however as after the fifth time of being told still couldn't understand what they needed to do.

"So what do we do again?" Frank had asked. Rocky had sighed angrily. He was the one that had set up the plan.

"Look. It's simple to understand. When Team Rocket charge in they'll do so most likely in a single formation, meaning we could easily circle them in. however there's the off chance they won't do that and will instead move in in small groups and spread over the town separately. If that happens we simply take the groups out one by one without the others noticing."

"That's the bit I don't understand." Ross butted in suddenly. "How do you expect us to do that? We aren't exactly physically strong and we don't have any chloroform to knock them out with. Our Pokémon are also pretty weak so we can't fight them of. Besides how do we know if they'll do that or not?"

"Well it's the best plan we've got." Tom told them, simply. "Unless you have one that's better."

"I do as a matter of fact." Ross replied. How about we just jump out at them and attack them." All of them just stared straight at him. Even Frank.

"That's an awful idea." Ruby said simply.

"Dreadful." Joe added.

"Just appalling." Tom added.

"Bad." Winter added

"I've never heard of a worse plan in my entire life. And that's coming from me." Frank told them. The others snickered slightly at this remark.

"Well thank you all for your appreciation." Ross said, sarcastically. They heard a sudden bat like screech from further down the town. The group turned to see Ralph flying quickly towards them. He looked both excited and tense.

"That's Ralph." Joe exclaimed, running forward to meet his friend. Ralph started pointing behind him with one of his front wings and looked back, growling. "Is Team Rocket already on their way?" Joe asked. Ralph nodded quickly and turned around to face the way he had come, floating in a defensive position.

"Battle stations!" Rocky commanded. Everyone spurred into sudden action. Joe and Ralph took an early position behind one of the closer buildings, further away from the tower so as to come around the platoon and take them from behind. Winter was doing the same but she hid behind another building on the other side of Joe's. In between them was a large space which Team Rocket would need to pass through to reach the tower. Both Joe and Winter could see each other and they had readied all of their Pokémon. Joe stood with Ralph, Pippy, Sting, Pitt and Cinders, Winter stood with Staryu, Stream and River. Meanwhile Tom had taken an aerial view of the town on the back of his now evolved Fearow. It had surprised the entire group when Tom had pulled that out of his pocket without telling them. He was supposed to take Team Rocket on from above, surprising them and taking out a lot of their grunts at the same time. Rocky, Frank, Ross and Ruby meanwhile were set up close to the tower itself. Each of them was placed in cover, ready to jump out on Team Rocket when they arrived. Each of them had their own Pokémon out as well. Rocky with Crash and Chopper, Ross with Spikes, Ruby with Claws and Crabby and… Frank. They waited in their positions for a few minutes, holding their breath. Then, slowly, an entire militia of Rocket Grunts started marching towards them. Each man had at least one weak Pokémon by his side as a form of defence and attack. Leading them from the middle of the group stood two men in white commander uniforms. One had an eye patch, the other had a long thin grey moustache. The Rocker Grunts kept marching, passing in between the houses Joe and Winter had hid behind. None of the passing grunts noticed them there. They dared not move or make a sound in case they alerted them to their presence. The militia kept walking until finally they stopped directly outside the Pokémon Tower. The two commanders pushed themselves towards the front of their men.

"Well that was too easy." Commander Cheng said, simply.

"Don't be so sure about that, my friend." Commander Wharton told him, scanning the area with his rat like eyes. "There's someone still here, waiting to surprise us."

"Are you sure?" Cheng asked. "I don't see anyone."

"Oh you wouldn't, my dear friend." Wharton told him. "You do not look with your eyes. You see what you expect to see. Right now I see six trainers and fifteen Pokémon that have made the awful mistake of standing in our way."

"What?" Cheng asked, looking around. "Where are they then?"

"Why two of them are over there." Wharton told him, pointing directly at Joe's hiding spot.

"Damn it!" Joe hissed under his breath. Somehow he knew they were there.

"There is also another three over there and one right above us." Wharton added, pointing behind the Pokémon centre that Rocky, Ross, Ruby and Frank were behind. He then pointed upwards and Commander Cheng gasped in surprise at seeing a large Fearow gliding overhead, a young boy riding atop it.

"Zap him down!" Cheng shouted. One grunt with a voltorb fired a small bolt of electricity that barely missed Fearow's wing. Tom brought him back down, making sure to dodge all the pot shots fired at him. The others stepped out of cover. There was no point hiding if the enemy knew where they were. The six trainers stood around Team Rocket, Encircling them with their Pokémon. The two Commander hardly looked fazed.

"You lot again." He shouted angrily. "When will you give up?"

"We ask the same of you." Joe replied, wittily.

"Here we have six foolish trainers and their unworthy Pokémon." Wharton announced, loud enough for the entire town to hear them. "Last time we met you won, but this time that shall not be the case. There are more of us this time and you cannot fight us all. Give up now and no more harm should befall any of you." All six trainers looked to each other. They all were thinking the same thing.

"I'm so sorry, commander…" Joe replied, speaking for his entire group. "But I don't think we accept your offer." The commander sighed.

"Suit yourselves." He turned to his men. "Remove them." He declared. With that the entire platoon moved into action. They split up and charged each trainer separately, readying their Pokémon to fight.

"Let's Do This!" Tom shouted and charged in, still riding Fearow.

"Tom, be careful!" Joe shouted after him. Fearow ploughed through the groups of Rocket grunts, knocking each of them in his way over. He headed straight for the Commanders. Wharton didn't dive aside. He simply pulled out a pokéball and released a Pokémon. In the place it landed a large stone rhyhorn stood in Tom's way. Tom steered Fearow upwards in an attempt to avoid crashing into Wharton's Rhyhorn.

"Rhyhorn, rock blast." Wharton commanded, simply. Rhyhorn scooped up several large rocks at once with its large horned head and carefully aimed at Fearow as it flew towards it. Tom steered it upwards in an attempt to dodge the attack and Rhyhorn flung the rocks one at a time in Fearow's direction. It was able to dodge must of them but finally Rhyhorn got lucky and struck fearow's left wing, sending it into a downwards spiral. Tom was flung clear from his Pokémon and sailed through the air. Ralph shot forwards in an attempt to break his fall. The two collided just above the ground and as Tom hit him they both collapsed back to the ground. Joe helped the two of them back up and they continued their charge. Chopper was the first to attack. He took on three raticate at the same time. They lunged out, attempting to gnaw at him but he jumped aside and they crashed into each other. He then used a low sweep to knock them down for good. Crash was also quick to join it, wrapping several Zubats up with his large stone tail and flinging them directly into another grunt's Sandslash. Ross quickly had his Pokémon helping out, followed by Ruby's Pokémon and the Frank. Ross and Ruby had their Nidoran's working together. While Claws used double kick to knock back an Ekans and stun it, Spikes wound charge up and ram it in the stomach with his large horn, knocking it sideways. Frank, still in his human form, simply stumbled through the wild melee going on around him, trying not to get hit by anything. He was suddenly stopped by a large, grumpy, Arbok. The eleven foot tall purple cobra glared down at him, menacingly. Frank looked back up at him and let out a quiet, frightened squeak. Arbok reared back and lunged at him, fangs drawn. Frank screamed. Suddenly something appeared in between the two Pokémon. Frank and Arbok jumped back in surprise. In between the two Pokémon Tom's Abra had appeared. It waved, happily at the two Pokémon in turn. Arbok stared at it for a few seconds, then lunged again, this time aiming at Abra. It lashed out, biting down on Abra's arm. As it did so however the air around Abra crackled, distorted and then, quite suddenly, both Pokémon were gone. Frank looked around, absolutely muddled. He heard a high pitch hiss like screeching from above. He looked up to see Arbok falling out of the sky directly towards him. He stepped back, quickly as Arbok hit the ground right where he had been standing with a heavy thud, completely unconscious. Frank laughed, mockingly and pointed at the giant purple snake.

"Ha. I guess that ground really is supper effective against Arboks" he joked. Abra floated back down in front of him, giggling happily. Frank smiled back at it. "Thanks." He said, genuinely grateful for the help. He held out a hand. Abra took it and shook it. It then disappeared back into the fight. Joe and winter finally joined in the fight. Tom had released all four of his Pokémon. Joe was surprised to find he had caught another Pokémon since they'd last met. His new Pokémon was a Bellsprout, a long legged fly trap plant like Pokémon that fitted into the grass/poison type section. It currently had its long leg vines wrapped around a small group of Rattata and slowly tiring them out as they tried to fight back. Meanwhile his Squirtle was using its shell to block back attacks and blowing bubbles that battered the opponent Pokémon into submission, his Abra was tricking the Pokémon into hurting themselves and Fearow was swiping down entire rows of grunts and Pokémon with its huge wings and long beak.

"It's time to get involved as well." Winter told her team. "Staryu, Rapid Spin." Staryu obeyed, spinning rapidly on its side and shooting forwards, knocking over smaller Pokémon and vigorously buffeting the taller Pokémon. "Stream, hypnosis!" Winter commanded, a second time. Stream, her Poliwag stepped forwards. In front of it an angry raticate growled ferociously. Stream kept its nerve and pushed its stomach out. To the Raticate the swirl on Stream's belly began blurring and spinning in its eyes. It began to feel drowsy. Its eyes flickered, lowered and finally shut. The Raticate sloped forwards and rolled onto its side, snoring peacefully. "River, Twister!" Winter commanded a third time. Her horsea, River, leaped forward on its small tail. Towards it several unhappy Zubats flew forward. River readied herself and released a huge gust of wind out from her snout. The wind swirled around in the air, creating a small tornado that spun into the swarm of Pokémon and sucked inside all the Zubats, spinning them back out battered and unconscious.

"My turn now." Joe declared, stepping into the battle. All five of his Pokémon followed him. In front of them stood the two commanders main Pokémon. Arbok (Which Abra had fought a bit earlier on) and Primeape. They both glared at each of his Pokémon. They glared back, ready to fight. Primeape suddenly charged forwards, fists readied. Joe was prepared for this, however. "Cinders, Smokescreen." Joe commanded. Cinders did as he was told, releasing a black plume of smoke from his mouth that covered the charging Primeape and blinded it for a short time. "Now, Pitt, use Solarbeam." Pitt readied the light around him into his bulb. Primeape wiped the smoke from its face, caught sight of Pitt and began to charge again. As it did so Pitt released his energy, striking Primeape full on in the stomach and sending it flying backwards, hitting Arbok as it did so. The two Pokémon rolled around on the ground in pain. They quickly got back up, however and readied themselves again. This time arbok was going to attack. Pitt and Cinders stepped back. It was time to let Joe's other Pokémon fight. Sting and Pippy took their place. Arbok slithered forwards at an amazing speed. It lashed out with its large tail at Sting but Sting dodged back quickly, just avoiding being hit. As it did so Pippy shot a bolt of electricity into its body. Arbok winced and looked down angrily at the small yellow mouse. It tried biting him but Pippy was also too quick for it. It looked back and was struck in the face by Sting's drills. As it recoiled Pippy slammed into its side and made it recoil even further back. Then both Pokémon attacked at the same time. Pippy shooting a large lightning bolt from its cheeks, Sting firing several small missiles from its drills. Both attacks hit simultaneously. Arbok sped backwards out of range. Both it and Primeape looked at each other annoyed. They were not going to be beaten that quickly. They both charged again, this time together. Ralph took over now. He looked back, winked and got to work. The rest of the battle was a blur. It was hard for any of the watchers to make out what was going on. Ralph shot forwards, wing out and hit both Pokémon at the same time and knocked them over. A blur of wind, speed and purple and then Primeape was being flung into the air and Arbok was holding onto its leg for dear life. Ralph dropped the two of them from a huge height and all three dived downwards at incredible speed. Ralph pulled up just before reaching the ground, leaving Primeape and Arbok to fall alone to the ground. The impact was tremendous. The ground burst upwards as the crater they left spread out like wild fire. The area around them shook with an awful aftershock. After a few seconds both Pokémon emerged from their crater and hurried back to their masters. Joe cheered and high fived Ralph.

The two commanders who were watching from in front of the tower were steaming furious. Wharton was gritting his teeth ferociously while Cheng was gripping his white hat in his hands. Both their Pokémon crawled back to them, injured but still conscious. Wharton glared at them.

"Take care of these trainers." He hissed, his anger obvious in his voice. "That is what I told you, yet you seem to have let them take care of you!" He snapped suddenly. The two Pokémon flinched, afraid of his fury.

"I told you these trainers were tricky." Cheng told him. "We just need to take them out when they make a mistake. I nearly beat him once, as did you. If we overwhelm them we can defeat them." Wharton glared at him now. Cheng gulped. Even though the two of them were both commanders Wharton had more authority then him and was a lot more vicious when things weren't going well. Wharton smiled, evilly.

"Your quite right, my friend." He growled. "We take them out when they're unaware." He reached into his suit and grabbed something. "And currently they are paying us no attention, giving us the perfect chance to make a move." He pulled out his hand and in it was a small, jet black, hand gun, a clip clearly inside it. Wharton quickly cocked it and aimed. Cheng gasped and grabbed the gun, pulling it down.

"What are you doing?" He asked, totally stunned by his colleagues plan.

"Dealing with a pest." Wharton told him, simply.

"By shooting him?!" Cheng shouted at him, angry. "You can't do that!"

"Who says?" Wharton asked.

"Lord Geovanni does." Cheng replied quickly. "He taught us this, remember? Or did you decide that his teaching were not worth following anymore?" Wharton paused. He thought for a second.

"Of course I don't doubt or leader." He said, finally.

"Good. Now put the gun away." Cheng told him. "We're thieves… Not Murderers!" Wharton sighed and looked down at the small gun in his hand. He then looked up and saw Ralph, Joe's Crobat taking out five grunts at once. A growl began to emit from his clenched mouth. Commander Cheng looked at him, unsure what he was going to do. Suddenly, Wharton raised his arm, the gun pointed directly at the large purple bat. Cheng starred, stunned at what Wharton was about to do.

Meanwhile in the battle field Sting was busy taking care of a rather annoying Koffing. When he was done he turned around to see the two commanders arguing furiously. One of them suddenly raised a gun out and aimed it at something. Sting followed their gaze and saw who they were targeting. Only a few mitres away from him, completely unaware, was Ralph. Sting glanced back at the commanders and saw that the one with the grey moustache was getting ready to fire. He had to do something and quick, but what. The commanders were too far away from him for him to stop them in time. There was only one thing he could think of doing. Sting began beating his insect wings at a furious speed and shot of faster then he had ever gone. Within seconds he was in in the way of the shot, stopping them from hitting him. Back with the commanders Wharton was about to pull the trigger. Cheng was stunned but he couldn't just let Wharton kill such a rare Pokémon. Cheng had no choice in his next action. He jumped on Wharton, knocking the gun to the side. As he did so however Wharton's finger snagged the trigger and there was a loud 'Bang!' at that very moment Sting arrived in front of Ralph and stood still in the way of the shot. On one the buildings not too far away a clump of duct and plaster flew of the side as something struck it at great speed. Everyone stopped suddenly and turned to where the sound came from. Ralph spun around suddenly to see Sting standing in front of him. The Beedrill stared on defiantly, not willing to let any harm befall his friend. A small dark tear fell down his right eye. He stood there for a couple of seconds, everyone staring at him, mouths agape. Then, suddenly, Sting fell weak. He crumpled forwards and fell onto his side on the floor. Ralph looked down at his friend, absolutely stunned. Joe, Winter, Tom, Rocky, Ross, Ruby and Ralph were looking at where the Beedrill lay. Joe stared, completely staggered by what he had just seen. He then shot into action.

"STING!" He shouted, afraid for his Pokémon. He ran towards him, leaving his back pack behind.

"Oh no!" Winter said, frightened for his safety and followed after him. Joe reached his Pokémon and knelt beside him. Ralph was already by his side, trying to comfort him. He rolled Sting over and gasped, a tear rolling down his eye. In Sting's chest was the small but obvious bullet wound from a small fire arm. Brown-Green blood was already beginning to ooze out from the wound in his chest. Sting cried, painfully and weakly.

"You're going to be ok." Joe told him, comfortingly, pressing his hand down on the wound in an attempt to slow the bleeding. "I promise you you will be okay." He looked up at Ralph who looked solemn. Ralph was usually hopeful about everything but this time he knew that there was nothing that could be done.

The two commanders got up from the floor. Cheng had pulled the gun from Wharton's hands and pulled the clip out before he could do any more damage. They then noticed that everyone had stopped fighting and were all standing around something. Then they saw what the damage was.

"Oh god." Cheng gasped. He looked at Wharton who gave him the same shocked expression. Joe looked up and saw the two of them. He also noted the gun in Chengs hand. He growled, furiously at them.

"Call a full retreat." Wharton whispered, not even blinking. Cheng stood unresponsive for a second. He cupped his hand together and shouted to his men.

"Retreat!" The grunts quickly withdrew all their Pokémon and began running back out of the town. It only took them a few seconds for every one of them to have disappeared. The commanders too had gone, fading into the retreating grunts. The others left had Joined Joe and Ralph standing around the horrible scene. Sting was moaning in pain. Tears began to fall from Joe's eyes. Some of the town's people had come out again. They too were looking over the scene. Team Ace were unusually quiet. Even they could not find a way to laugh at the current point.

"Will he be okay?" Ruby asked, actually worried for him.

"He has to be ok." Frank added. Rocky knelt next to Joe and placed an arm on his shoulder. Joe looked at him.

"He can make it." He told him, desperately wishing to believe it. "He's strong. He'll be ok." Rocky shook his head, deeply saddened.

"The bullet's pierced his heart. There's no way he can recover, even if we get help." Rocky explained.

"You don't know that." Joe argued with him, desperately. He lifted Sting into his arms, cradling him like a small weak baby. Sting looked him in the eyes. He began buzzing weakly. Joe just smiled at him. "I can't understand a word you're saying." He sobbed. "But even though I can't understand you, you can understand me." He smiled, weakly. "You were the first Pokémon I ever caught. You got me through a lot of tough fights. You've been brilliant. I wanted to get all the way to the Pokémon league with you by my side." Joe sniffed, wiping his eyes. "You can't die. You just can't." Sting placed a weak drill on Joe's shoulder. He buzzed again. Finally he took one last heavy breath and weekly buzzed a few recognisable syllables.

"Frrr… Frrrrrr… Frrreeeeennddzzzz" Stings arm loosened. His eyes lost their light. His head lulled to the side and he fell still in Joe's arms. Joe stared down at his friend, heavy tears watering eyes. He watched his friend for several seconds, desperately wishing him to awake again. Finally Joe lay him down on the floor, tears pouring down his face. He punched the ground, his emotions pouring down his face.

"No." He cried. "No!" He shouted, distraught. "Please no! Why? Why did he need to… to…" He burst into furious tears. Winter hugged him, tightly. Rocky looked on sadly. Ralph stood by Joe's side, a tear falling from his eyes as well. Tom too stood by Joe's side, a hand on his right shoulder. Joe's other Pokémon looked at each other, sadly. Team Ace stood alone, sad and unwelcome. Frank shed a small tear.

"I don't know what to say." Ruby said, trying not to cry.

"There's nothing to say." Ross told her, also doing his best to keep himself calm. Frank however gave in. He burst into tears.

"This is so awful." He wailed. "How could someone do something like this?"

"It wasn't Team Rocket that shot him." Rocky announced, surprising everyone.

"What do you mean?" Ruby asked.

"I mean they missed." Rocky explained. "Their shot hit that building over there. Whoever it was that shot Sting they must have done it from somewhere they had the right visibility."

Joe looked up at the tower. It was the only thing stood in front of him now. His attention was drawn to the top of the tower for some reason. He saw someone standing on the roof. Joe couldn't make out any details as the figure was too far away but he could see a dark cloak flickering in the wind and his face was covered by a hood. The slight glint of a gun was in his hand. A second after Joe had seen him the figure turned around and jumped of the back of the tower, out of his sight.

"He was on the roof." Joe whispered. Now he understood the dream he had had that morning. He knew why he had felt all those different emotions although nothing had happened. He knew why he had heard a gunshot. It was a premonition. He growled under his breath and glared at the roof of the tower. A Sudden burning hatred engulfed his heart and burned away at his mercy and humanity. He was left with furious, unquenchable, unstoppable anger. "Whoever that was, if I ever see them again… they'll wish they had never been born!" He closed his eyes, tears wetting his face. There was nothing any of them could do now. Sting was gone and there was no way anyone could bring him back.


	16. Chapter 16: The Ghost of Pokemon Tower

Stings funeral had not been anything hugely memorable or outlandish. Like his death, his funeral was quick and sudden. He had been given a place in the Pokémon tower. It wasn't one of the more glamourous graves that Pokémon with rich owners got. It wasn't even the kind that was given to heroes of the town. He had been placed in a simple grave on the second floor, next to dozens of other Pokémon. Joe, Ralph and the rest of his Pokémon stood around the grave. Pitt had found a couple of unique flowers growing outside the tower and had placed them neatly on top of the grave. Mortemiclerius Memorius. 'The Weed of the Grave' as some call it. It was mainly believed that the plant grew only on the soil in which Pokémon had been buried. Pippy and Cinders had created a wooden statuette of a Beedrill from a small block of wood they had found. Pippy had spun it around while Cinders cut it into shape with his claws. Joe put the statuette besides the tomb stone, a small tear falling from his eye. Losing your Pokémon was hard, every trainer knew that. His Uncle had Pokémon before that passed away. At the time he thought it was painful. Now that he had truly experienced the loss of his own Pokémon he felt like he couldn't bare it. He choked, holding back the tears. Winter and Rocky stood beside him. Tom was not with them, however. He had left only a few minutes before. As much as he'd wanted to stay for his friends benefit he didn't have a choice. Joe looked to the two of them. They did their best to look happy for him but they knew it wouldn't help.

"Do you want us to wait outside?" Winter asked kindly.

"If you want." Joe replied, simply.

"Ok." She turned and slowly walked back towards the stairs leading to the entrance. Rocky followed after her, the same sad expression on his face. Joe just stood over his friend's grave for a minute more. He held Stings old pokéball in his hand and clenched it in his palm.

"I'm sorry, Sting." He said finally, his grief getting to him properly now. "I'm so so sorry that this happened to you. I was your trainer, your friend… and I let you die." A tear fell down his cheek. He wiped it away and looked at the grave stone. The stone had the words 'Sting the Beedrill. Caught June 22nd 1997, Died July 4th 1997. Died defending our town from Team Rocket. Will forever be remembered in our hearts.' The plate angered Joe slightly. It didn't pay the full respect to his memory. It also angered him that he had to die because of Team Rocket. He bent down and placed Sting's pokéball on the grave in front of the tomb stone. It sat there like a rising sun atop a hill, forever warming and brightening the memory of his first caught Pokémon. Joe glared at the markings, clenching his fists. A sudden anger filled his heart.

"I swear on your memory, that whoever it was that killed you shall be brought to justice by my hand. Trust me. If I ever meet him, He'll rule the day that he was ever born." Joe span around and stomped towards the stairs. His Pokémon looked after him, slightly worried. One by one they followed him. First Pippy, then Cinders, then Pitt and Finally Ralph. Ralph took a second to look at the grave himself. He felt regret. Regret that he hadn't tried to make friends with Sting. At first he hadn't liked him. He was still getting over his previous experience. They both kept their distance after then, not wanting to talk with each other or work together. As time passed he assumed he'd gotten used to him. He hadn't realised how much of a friend Sting really was till he was gone. It took his death for him to realise that not all Beedrills were bad after all. Now all he felt was guilt that he hadn't tried harder to make him feel more welcome. Sting had given up his own life to make sure Ralph wasn't hurt… and Ralph hadn't once helped him in any way, even in a fight. There was nothing he could do now. He nodded and followed after the others, leaving his friends old pokéball where it lay on the ground in which he had been buried.

Ralph looked around. Something wasn't right. Where was the exit? It had been right behind him a minute ago but now he couldn't see anything through a heavy layer of fog. Ralph gasped surprised. Where had this fog come from? The room had been completely clean a few seconds ago but now he couldn't see further then the tip of his wing. Ralph stumbled around in the fog, trying to find his way around. A figure became visible in the fog. It was too deep to see any detail but it was only a few feet away from him. Ralph called out to it and waved a wing in the air, trying to get its attention. The figure didn't respond. Perhaps it didn't see him. Ralph flew a little closer. Even though he was moving closer towards it the figure was still tough to make out. Ralph was now right in front of it now but the fog kept it cloaked. Ralph looked it up and down, trying to make out who or what it was. He pointed a wing out, about to touch it when suddenly… "THWACK!" A huge, bone shaped club struck out from the fog and hit him square in the face. Ralph was sent sailing backwards into the far wall, leaving a small crack in it from the impact. As he began to get back up he saw the club being swung back around. The swinger, whoever it was, was coming in for another attack. Ralph had to think fast. Quickly he rolled aside as the club swung through, narrowly missing his forehead and causing a large dent in the floor. The ground shook slight.

Joe had just reached the bottom of the stairs when he suddenly heard a large thud from above. He looked up and saw the roof above his head shake. Something was going on above him. He noticed Ralph hadn't followed him. Pippy, Pitt and Cinders were with him but Ralph hadn't come down yet.

"Ralph?" Joe called back up to him. No response. Joe tried again. "Ralph, are you ok up there? Still no response. Joe took one step upwards, gripping the railing carefully. He took another step. As he got higher up he began to hear some strange noises. It sounded like someone was scuffling with something. Joe cocked his ear carefully. "Ralph?" He called up, carefully. He reached the top step and looked into the second floor. The entire floor was suddenly full of a thick fog. It hadn't been there before, Joe could remember that. He looked around careful and stepped into the fog. It quickly consumed the air around him, shrouding his vision with odd moving white mist. He stumbled around aimlessly, trying not to stumble over any of the graves. He had just about made his way blindly to the centre of the room when suddenly something heavy and purple crashed into his side and toppled him over. Joe lay dazed and crushed under the purple mass for several seconds before trying to push it off. The large, man sized mass got back up on its wings and turned around surprised to see him, its huge yellow eyes darting around the place.

"Ralph?!" Joe asked, astonished. "What on earth are you doing up here? And what's all this mist?" Ralph wasn't paying attention to him anymore. He was looking behind him at something else. Joe noticed and turned around. Something large, pale and very tough struck him in the head and knocked him out cold where he stood. A few seconds later Joe awoke. Ralph was fighting whatever had hit him off. Joe couldn't see it very well because of the fog and because currently he had been concussed by the blow to the head he had received. He couldn't make out a physical shape. The only thing he could see was the outline of a large bone club swinging through the air at Ralph. All around him words seemed to echo quietly. It sounded like something was whispering 'Leave! Leave! Leave!' Something small and yellow had crawled up beside him. Joe turned an eye to his side to see his small Pikachu, Pippy, tugging on his jumper sleeve. Joe smiled and stroked him. Pippy yapped, worried and pointed at the strange spectre that was attacking Ralph in the mist. Pippy was asking him what to do but Joe didn't know. He noticed Pitt and Cinders making their way up the stairs now and rushing forward to help him up. Pitt used his vines to lift Joe up while Cinders propped him back onto his feet. Joe thanked them both then returned to the task at hand. "Pippy, see if you can do something to help out." Joe told him. Pippy nodded and began glowing. He emitted a sharp and sudden flash that shocked both the spectre and Ralph. They both stumbled around, blinded by the brightness. Ralph came around first. He lashed out with his wing but his attack passed straight through the thing he was attacking. He gasped and backed away. It wasn't possible for his wing to pass through it. That just couldn't happen.

"Joe!" Someone called from the stairwell. He turned. "Winter and Rocky were making their way upstairs. They had finally noticed something was up and had come to help.

"Are you ok?" Rocky asked. Joe shrugged. "There's something up here. Ralph can't hurt it."

"What do you mean can't hurt it?" Winter asked. Joe ran up to them.

"Get down stairs now!" Joe told them quickly. "We need to get out of here and fast.

"What about Ralph?" Winter asked him. Joe looked back at his friend. Ralph was only just quick enough to dodge the club but he was clearly beginning to tire now.

"Ralph, come on!" Joe called out. Ralph didn't hesitate. He immediately shot for the stairs, just reaching it at the spectre threw its club at him like a boomeranged. The club struck Ralph in the back and he dropped out of the air and onto the floor in front of the three trainers. Joe quickly scooped him up and dashed for the stairs, his Pokémon following close behind him

"We can't stay up here." Winter said simply and followed after him. Rocky was about to go after them when he saw the spectre that had attacked them. He couldn't see it properly because of the fog but he could see its outline. Along with the large bone like club it appeared to have a large, odd shaped skull on its head and it stood around 3 feet tall. It readied the club to throw again. Rocky took that as a hint to leave and galloped down the stairs, three steps at a time.

The group had quickly regrouped outside the tower. Winter was bandaging Joe's forehead which had come up with a nasty bruise where the bone club had hit him. Rocky had joined back up with them. Joe winced in pain as Winter struggled to stitch the bandage to Joe's head.

"Stop squirming." Winter told him, slightly annoyed. "I'm trying to stitch you up."

"It hurts." Joe complained. Rocky noticed Ralph in pain next the two of them and knelt beside him, pulling out an Oran berry from his berry jar to help him recover.

"What happened?" He asked Joe. "What was that thing? And why did it attack us?"

"I don't know." Joe replied "I didn't really see much of what happened. I just saw Ralph fighting a mysterious figure." Ralph looked up at him, still shocked by his experience. He didn't know any more than they did. The group had met many strange Pokémon on their journey already but none of them knew one that was like that one.

"Ralph couldn't hurt it." Winter added. "Now that's a worrying sign. I know this is a bit of a sudden assumption but it might be possible that that Pokémon… was a ghost."

"A Ghost?" Joe repeated, a little worried by what she was saying.

"We were standing in a graveyard." Rocky added. "It is totally possible that one of the Pokémon buried there was disturbed by our presence. Any amount of Pokémon could be living up there and no one would ever know."

"Cheyenne in Cerulean City had a Haunter." Winter reminded them. "Haunter is a ghost type. Is it possible we ran into its evolution?" Rocky shook his head.

"Haunter evolves into Gengar." Rocky explained. "I got a small glimpse at its outline while we were running away. Whatever it was it was definitely _not_ a Gengar"

"'Leave'." Joe whispered, repeating what he had heard in the tower.

"What did you say?" Rocky asked him, surprised.

"'Leave'." Joe repeated louder. "That's what I heard. A disembodied voice saying 'Leave. Leave. Leave.' You don't think someone was playing with us do you? Making us think there was a ghost in there."

"Believe me young man that creature you fought was no prank or joke." A sudden, elderly voice told them to their right. The three trainers and Ralph looked in surprise to see an elderly white haired bolding man standing not three metres away. The group stood up in surprise. They recognised him from one of their previous experiences.

"Mr Fuji?" Winter asked. The man looked surprised.

"Do I know you?" He asked her in return.

"Don't you remember us?" Joe asked. The man continued to look confused at him. "Team Rocket, Route 5, Pokémon Day Care, Granddaughter? The old man suddenly gasped in realisation.

"Oh!" He said, finally realising. "You've met my brother, have you?"

"Your brother?" Rocky asked, confused himself now.

"Yes. He runs the day care on Route 5 with his granddaughter. We're identical twins. That would explain your surprise and confusion." He deduced.

"If you're brothers…" Winter began. "Then what should we call you by?"

"Just call me Mr Fuji." Mr Fuji's brother told her. "It's so much simpler."

"Ok then." Joe said after a couple of seconds of silence. "You were saying something about a ghost in the tower." He reminded him.

"Indeed I was." Mr Fuji continued. "But this is not the place to talk about it." He turned around and pointed to a small wooden hut at the edge of town. "My house is just over there. We shall continue this conversation over a cup of tea."

"Oh how posh." Joe mocked. Winter elbowed him sharply in the side and told him to 'Stop it!' The trio followed Mr Fuji to his house.

The trio stepped through the wooded doorway. The inside of the house was very different to the outside. It was covered in colourful wall paper and had a soft, exotic coloured carpet covering the entire single roomed building. Around the room were several make shift beds on which multiple different Pokémon slept. There was also a small table with different plates on it, big enough for a small Pokémon to sit at happily. In one corner was a human sized bed, presumable where Mr Fuji slept. The entire building was pretty much the poor Pokémon's hotel. The entire place was set up to take care of abandoned or disrespected Pokémon.

"Mind where you step." Mr Fuji warned them as he walked in. The three trainers followed him inside. He sat them down at the table a put a kettle of the fire. It heated up quickly and began to whistle. He poured the tea into four small cups and passed one each to the three trainers.

"Nice, uh, place you've got here." Rocky stuttered, trying to complement his house.

"Very…um…Wild." Joe added, joining in.

"Unique." Winter added.

"Thank you kindly." Mr Fuji smiled at them through slightly rotten teeth.

"What exactly do you do here?" Joe asked him.

"Well it's not exactly a pleasant matter." Mr Fuji warned him. "I adopt and take care of orphaned or abandoned Pokémon I find, in Lavender town or all around Kanto, and take care of them until I find them a new owner who will take care of them."

"That's a very noble cause." Winter said, respectfully.

"It is." Mr Fuji agreed. "That's why I do it. I don't get paid for doing this. I do it because I feel it is necessary. I can't stand to see people or Pokémon suffering, especially young Pokémon like most of the ones I care for." He pointed to one of the Pokémon over by the makeshift beds. A small pink slowpoke that was yawning loudly. "Tardy over there was found stumbling around Rock Tunnel alone. His mother had been taken from him to be used in Slowpoke tail soup." Something tugged at his leg. He looked down and picked up a small Clefairy from the floor. Its face was horribly scared and it appeared to have an eye missing. "Tinkerbelle here was found all the way over in Fuchsia City. She had been violently beaten by her owner, hence the horrible scars here which left her blind in her right eye." He put the Clefairy back down and patted its head. "You see not every trainer out there is out to catch Pokémon to train or keep as pets. Some people are much more sadistic then that. They grab the rarest Pokémon they can find and then, when another Pokémon comes along, they kick it out into the streets, alone. Some don't even do that. Some people use them in illegal foods, like Slowpoke tail soup. There are entire gangs of people who go around kidnapping Pokémon to then cut up and use in three course meals. It disgusts me to see any living thing used in that way, least of all a defenceless young Pokémon that just wants to be loved and cared for. Some people may call me a gross, daft old fool who surrounds himself with dirty, sick Pokémon. Those people are wrong. If caring for these Pokémon means having to live alongside them then I'll do it happily. I'm the only person in the town that would do this. Everyone here thinks I'm odd. But I'll tell you this. Pokémon aren't just dumb animals with unique abilities like some people see them as. They are our pets, our company, our guides, our helpers, our messengers, but most of all they are our friends. That's why I do this job every day. Because I want to show these Pokémon that not all humans are bad."

"You really care about your job." Winter said, moved by his words. Mr Fuji smiled at her.

"I do. It's the only thing I really wake up every day for. If I didn't who would help them then?" He shook a hand in the air. "But enough about that. You came here to learn about the Ghost of Pokémon Tower."

"Yes." Rocky agreed. "What do you know exactly?"

"Well I can tell you this." Mr Fuji began "It's not a trick or an illusion. It's real, and it's dangerous. It first appeared nearly a week ago now. No one knew where it came from or what it is. No one has been able to see it properly, their Pokémon can't hurt it and their pokéballs can't catch it."

"So what is it?" Joe interrupted.

"I'll get to that in a second." Mr Fuji told him off. He coughed and continues with his story. "Where was I? Ah yes. So no one has been able to do anything to it. Then Team Rocket start turning up, claiming that they have business in the tower. They say that there is something inside they need for their cause. I might be making quick assumptions but I think it's totally possible that they may be there for the ghost."

"But what is the ghost?" Joe asked again, more pestering then before.

"I'm just coming to that." Mr Fuji told him again. "If you could just be patient…" Joe thumped the table, angrily. The entire group jumped in surprise and looked at him shocked.

"Just tell me!" he snapped, not able to control his irritation any longer. Mr Fuji stared at him. Then he slumped back against his chair.

"Ok." He said simply. "The ghost is one of the Pokémon that Team Rocket killed. It's the angered spirit of a mother whose life was snatched away while it was protecting its child. It's angry. It's been here over a week now, though, meaning it must have recently died."

"You didn't say what kind of Pokémon it is." Winter told him, simply, glancing at Joe who wasn't calming down.

"The ghost is a Marowak. A rare, large, ground type Pokémon that wields a bone club in both hands and wears a large skull on its head. Its child is Cubone, The Orphan Pokémon." He took a breath, readying to say something important. "I found Cubone wandering around in the Pokémon Tower on the same day that the ghost started to appear. I didn't know at the time that its mother was the ghost so I took it with me and brought it here." He stood up and walked to the group of sleeping Pokémon. One Pokémon in particular he walked to. He slowly picked it up, stirring it awake as he did so. He carried it in his arms and walked back to the table. He placed the small, brown, skull wearing Pokémon on the table and it looked at the four humans, fiddling with the small bone in its hand.

"Is that the Cubone you rescued?" Rocky asked him. Mr Fuji nodded, a small sweet smile growing on his face.

"I named her Mina, a simplification of the word 'Minashigo', meaning 'Orphan' in Japanese." Mina looked nervously up at the three trainers before her. She waved her bone club in an attempt at being menacing. Mr Fuji chuckled, adoringly. He then looked back up, more grave. "That's why it attacked you. The mother is looking for its child and it won't let anything that may be a threat come near it."

"So you caused all this." Joe said, still annoyed and starting to get angry.

"Yes." Mr Fuji admitted. "But there may be a way to calm it. If we bring back Cubone to its mother then maybe it will calm down and depart to the afterlife."

"After that what happens to Cubone?" Winter asked.

"That's where you three may come in useful." He told her. "I need one of you to bring Mina up there to her mother for me. I'd do it myself but I don't use Pokémon for battling, so if something went wrong or the mother attacked her I wouldn't be able to do anything to stop it."

"But our Pokémon couldn't hurt it." Rocky explained.

"I have something that may help you with that." Mr Fuji told him and pulled out a strange, small, metal and plastic pair of binoculars from his coat. The binoculars had odd blue lenses and three straps to go around the head like a head torch. It also seemed to have a large bump in between the two lenses, presumably where the internal technology was for it. "That's a Silph Scope. One of the many Silph Co inventions." Mr Fuji told them. "It will not only allow you all to see Marowak when it's turned on but it will also allow your Pokémon to hurt it." Rocky took the device.

"Ok, we'll take care of your problem." Rocky told him. Winter nodded in agreement. Joe, however didn't respond.

"Which one of you will take care of Mira?" Mr Fuji asked the trio. They looked at each other.

"Well Joe usually takes Pokémon like this that are offered to him." Winter explained. "That's how he got his Ivysaur and Charmeleon." They all looked at Joe. He hadn't been paying attention to the conversation. He was still glaring at Mr Fuji and by the looks of it he was about to erupt.

"So this is all your fault." Joe growled under his breath just loud enough for the others to hear. "You unleashed a malevolent spirit on the town. You brought Team Rocket here. You caused Sting to… To…!" He stopped suddenly, his anger getting the better of him. He punched the table again and stood up, knocking his chair over as he did so. His friends looked at him surprised. Ralph also looked surprised but he was also concerned. He tried to comfort his friend but Joe pushed him away, angrily. Joe just looked at them. Then he stormed out of the building, slamming the door behind him and almost pulling it off its hinges. Winter, Rocky and Ralph turned back to Mr Fuji, stunned by their friend's sudden outburst.

"Does he usually act like that?" Mr Fuji asked simply. Winter and Rocky just stared surprised.

"We should go check on him." Winter told him. "He's had a bit of a tough time recently. His Pokémon died yesterday." Mr Fuji waved a hand.

"I understand." He told them. "If you take up my offer I'll be waiting for you." Winter and Rocky stood up and went for the door, Ralph following after them. The small Cubone followed after them before Mr Fuji could stop her. She stumbled through the doorway just as the door narrowly missed catching there tail.

Outside Joe had stormed off and found himself standing outside the Pokémon Tower. He stood looking up at it, a small cluster of stones by his feet and a small boulder behind him. The Tower loomed over him like a mystic spire to the gates of hell. He felt nothing but anger looking at it. He grabbed one of the stones by his feet and hurled it at the tower, shouting "Aaaargh!" The stone bounced of the brick mortar and cluttered onto the grassy floor. Joe clenched his fists furiously. He threw another stone. It too simply bounced of the tower wall. He threw another. Same again. He threw another. Same again. He got angrier with each stone he threw, tears beginning to appear in his eyes. Finally he gave up, throwing the final stone on the ground in front of him. He stood there, motionless, sobbing. He buckled backwards and sat down on the small boulder that was behind him. He held his head in his arms, furious tears wracking his body. He sat there for several seconds, sobbing quietly before his friends finally found him.

"There he is." Rocky shouted, spotting him sitting by the Pokémon Tower. "Joe!" He called out. Joe didn't move. He didn't turn and look at them. Rocky, Winter and Ralph ran up and joined him. They stood beside him, attempting to make him feel more comfortable.

"Joe?" Winter asked, kindly, trying to confide him.

"Leave me alone." He grumbled, still sobbing. "Just let me be."

"What's the problem?" Winter asked him, sitting down on the boulder with him and putting a hand on his shoulder. Joe pushed her off.

"What's the problem?" He repeated. "Are you deaf and blind? You know what the problem is."

"No we don't." Winter told him. "We don't know. So why don't you tell us." Joe sighed, annoyed, tears nearly choking him.

"That man." He began. "Mr Fuji. It's his fault that Sting died. If he hadn't angered an undead Pokémon then Team Rocket wouldn't have come here to catch it and we wouldn't have tried to stop them, meaning Sting wouldn't have been shot." He exaggerated his arms, getting angry again. "And he has the nerve to ask _us_ to help _him_! Well he can shove it right up his…"

"Joe!" Winter snapped at him. "That's not fair. You can't pin all the blame on Mr Fuji. He didn't tell Team Rocket to attack the town. He didn't tell us to try and stop them. Other people made that decision. We made that decision." Joe looked at her. His eyes were red with tears and his mouth wobbled, grief and anger running like adrenaline through his body and setting his nerves.

"It's my fault he's dead, Winter." He sobbed. "I decided we should stay and help out. If we had left he would be ok but we stayed and now he's dead." Joe choked on his tears again, taking a deep breath to try and keep calm. "If I can't even protect my own Pokémon then what kind of a trainer am I?"

"Stings death was not your fault." Rocky reassured him. "It was nothing you could have prevented. Whether Team Rocket is at fault or not is unknown right now but you had nothing to do with it." He sat down on the opposite side of Joe. "If Sting hadn't tried to protect Ralph then he would probably have died instead." Ralph nodded in sad agreement. "Grief is just coming to grips with loss." Rocky explained. "It's a natural reaction. It hurts at first but eventually you come to terms with it. Some people quicker than others. But we're here to help you through it." Joe turned and glared at Rocky, getting suddenly angry again.

"What do you know about loss?" he growled. "You know nothing. Nothing!" He prodded a sharp finger at Rocky's chest. "You don't know how I feel! You've never lost someone you cared about! I have! I grew up without my parents! I lived with just my uncle my entire life! The very first Pokémon I ever caught just died! You have no idea what pain is!" Rocky just looked back at him, saddened by his words. "And neither do you." Joe shouted, turning on Winter now. "What have either of you lost? Nothing! You two grew up in good surroundings around your family and friends! You've never lost anyone! How could either of you know how I feel?!" Winter glared back at him, no longer feeling sympathy. She was angry at him now.

"I have no idea how you feel?" She repeated. "You don't know the half of it. I know exactly how you feel more then you could ever imagine." She stood up, looming over him, clenching her palms. "My parents cared so little about me that they abandoned me with my elderly grandmother when I was merely 3 years old. My grandmother, the only family I ever truly knew passed away a few years ago, leaving me totally grief stricken with no one to turn to. I spent the last 4 years training to be a gym leader only to find that I'll never get the chance and you have the **nerve** to tell me I don't know grief!" She stopped, calming down slightly. Joe slumped forwards, hands over his face. Loud sobs began emitting from underneath. Winter looked down at him, suddenly realising that maybe it wasn't a good idea to get angry right now. Ralph joined her standing in front of Joe.

"I'm sorry." Joe whimpered after a while. Winter and Rocky looked at each other. Joe shook his head in his hands. "I'm so, so sorry." Ralph looked at his friend, worried and sad. None of them had any idea that he was taking this so badly. "I couldn't save you. I let you die. I'm… I'm so sorry, Sting." He finally broke down, Tears streaming down his face uncontrollable. He covered his face with his hands to hide his pain from his friends. Winter say back down next to him, feeling bad that she had shouted at him.

"Joe…" She began. "Joe, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to shout. I forgot that you hadn't experienced grief like this before." She reached out and placed a hand on his shoulder. This time he didn't shrug her off. He just sat there sobbing.

"No." He said after a couple of seconds. "No. I'm sorry. You're right. I'm being childish." Winter shook her head.

"No you're not. Sting was your Pokémon. He died and you're grieving. That's good. It proves you did care about him." Joe looked up at her. His crying was beginning to ware away. "You may be hurting really bad right now and trust me the pain won't disappear any time soon. But some day you'll finally realise that these things just happen. People die and a lot of the time there is nothing that we could do to stop that. Eventually you come to terms with it all and realise that the most you can do for those people is keep on living. If you continue to grief over them and not keep living your life then you're offending their life. You need to keep living to keep their memories alive. Stings death is not on you. Imagine what he'd want you to do. He cared about his trainer, too. He'd want you to keep moving forward, keep training your team, find new Pokémon, take on trainers and be the best you can be." Joe smiled weakly.

"You're right." Joe said finally. He wiped his eyes with his sleeve and took a deep breath. "You're one hundred percent right. Stings death isn't my fault. There was nothing I could have done to prevent it. I shouldn't beat myself up about it. I just need to learn to move on." He looked between Rocky, Ralph and Winter. "Thanks, you guys. What would I do without you?" He smiled. They smiled back.

"I dread to imagine." Winter joked.

"Someone needs to take Cubone to its mother in the tower." Rocky interrupted, getting back to Mr Fuji's proposal. "You usually take Pokémon people need taken care of." Rocky reminded Joe. "We thought seeing as how you just lost one your own you might want to take the offer." Joe thought for a second.

"I admit I'm tempted." He told him. "I would like another team member. But I don't think I'm ready for that just yet." He said finally. "I want to wait for a bit." He pointed between Rocky and Winter. "Why don't one of you two take it?" He offered. Winter immediately shook her hands in disagreement.

"No thanks." She informed him. "I only know how to train water Pokémon." She pointed to Rocky. "What about Rocky." Rocky looked a little surprised.

"Me?" He asked, a little astonish his friends thought he was the best choice. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah." Winter told him. "You train rock types and Cubone's a rock type."

"Ground type." Rocky corrected her.

"See what I mean." Winter told him. "You're smart. You know what types Pokémon are. You know how to take care of Pokémon like this. You're most likely the perfect choice."

"It also seems to like you, too." Joe added, looking down at Rocky's feet. Rocky followed his gaze and noticed the small, skull wearing Pokémon tugging on his trousers. Cubone looked up at him, smiling happily. Rocky smiled back. He found himself leaning over and stroking it on the head. "You two bonded quickly." Joe commented. Rocky laughed.

"Ok then." He agreed. "Sure. I'll take care of Mina."

"Excellent." A voice said from behind them. They all spun around in surprise. Mr Fuji stood not three metres away from them, smiling proudly. "Are you all ok to go through with this?" He asked. Winter and Rocky looked at Joe. He smiled at them.

"Yeah." He told Mr Fuji. "I'll be ok."

"Great." Mr Fuji smiled. "Oh, before you take Mina from me with you I should probably say don't try catching her _until_ you've confronted the mother in case she wants her back or it might enrage her."

"Ok. We can do that." Rocky told him.

"Good luck you three." Mr Fuji called after them, waving them off. Mina waved back after him, following closely behind Rocky as she did so.

The group found themselves inside Pokémon Tower again. The second floor didn't seem any different than it should do. There was no ghost to be seen. Then the mist started to seep in from nowhere. It quickly filled the entire room, hindering everyone's sight. The group looked around, trying to catch a glimpse of the strange ghost. Rocky had put on the Silph Scope and was using it to detect Marowak's spirit but so far nothing had popped up. Then suddenly it started bleeping and a red arrow appeared on the screen, pointing to their right. He turned and saw the moving spectral form only 4 or so metres away. It just stood there, not moving, but it was clearly the ghost. None of the group could see its outline. The words 'Leave. Leave. Leave' seemed to suddenly echo around the room, loud enough for everyone to hear it. Rocky flicked the Silph Scope on and got the spirit in shot. The Silph Scope went to work, drawing the outline for Rocky as he looked at it. It then flashed as it finished, parting the strange mist surrounding it and leaving the entire group able to see what they were facing. Before them stood Cubone's mother, Marowak. Marowak was nothing like the group had imagined it to be. Because they couldn't see its form before they'd assumed it was a huge, monstrous Pokémon with bone like arms. It turn out in fact to be just a larger, more humanoid evolution of Cubone. It was brown skinned with a pink underbelly, wore a large pale white skull on its head, had two small, red eyes looking out from underneath, thin arms, small legs and held a long, pale bone in one hand which it swung like a club. It stood at 3 feet tall, much smaller than it had seemed before.

"Is that it?" Joe asked, slightly surprised.

"What were you expectation?" Winter replied, a little surprised he had thought it would be different.

"More intimidating then that." Joe told her.

"Guys, it can hear you." Rocky reminded them. They realised that Marowak was growling at them and quickly stopped. Mina stepped out from Rocky's shadow and confronted the ghost of her mother. Marowak looked down at her. No emotions seemed to show on its face. Then suddenly its eyes changed to calm white. In knelt to the floor on one foot and held out an arm towards the small Cubone. Mina ran forwards and hugged her mother, a tear rolling from its eye. The two embraced, so glad that they had found each other.

"What now?" Rocky asked.

"Mr Fuji said that if we brought Mina to her mother then her mother should depart in peace." Winter reminded them. Marowak look at its child. Mina smiled up at it, glad to be able to see its mother one last time. Marowak then looked up at the three watching trainers. Its eyes changed back to the sinister, evil red it had been at before. It stood up, no longer paying attention to Mina who began to back away, afraid. A low, heavy growl began emitting from under Marowak's skull. It clenched its bone club in both hands and raised it up towards its face. The three trainers began to back away as well.

"I don't think that it plans to leave any time soon." Joe told them. Sure enough Marowak was getting ready to attack them. Suddenly, with no warning it charged forwards, club razed above its head. The group dived aside, splitting apart as they did so. Joe and Winter Jumped to the left, Rocky and Ralph jumped to the right. Marowak charged past, smashing into the wall and causing it to crack, making plaster and dust rain all around them. Joe coughed and tried to stand up. As he did so Marowak's eye caught on him. It turned around and glared at him, raising its club again. As it began to swing down again something large and purple smashed into its side and pinned it to the wall. Ralph pushed against its arms, trying to keep it pushed back but Marowak was very strong for its size. It was slowly beginning to push Ralph away. Joe pulled winter away from the fight just as Rocky too moved back so as not to be hit when Marowak got free. A few seconds later Marowak pushed Ralph away and, as he was recovering from the attack, was head-butted in the stomach by Marowak's large skull head. Ralph was knocked quite far back, the impact strong enough to wind his for several seconds. He clenched his chest in pain and, as he looked up saw Marowak coming in for another attack, its club raised above head. There was a sickening "Thwack!" As the club struck down on Ralph's head and he was struck onto the floor. He lay there dazed, not moving. Marowak stomped up to him and stood on his wing. Ralph cried out in immense pain, trying to pull his wing free but Marowak was too heavy. It looked down on him, menacingly, its eyes burning with a red, fiery hatred. It raised its club again, ready to finish him off.

"Ralph!" Joe cried out, terrified for his friend. He charged forward, not thinking about the possible consequences. He was not about to lose another Pokémon so soon. Not when that Pokémon was his closest friend. As he got closer Marowak began to swing down. Joe jumped. He reached out and grabbed on to Marowak's back, pulling it backwards as he grabbed the small lumps on the back of its skull and hanging onto them desperately. Marowak pulled away, just missing Ralph and instead striking the floor. Its head was being dragged back by Joe's weight and strength. It looked up at the ceiling and tried to hit Joe away with its free arm. Finally it knocked him of by Spinning around suddenly on the spot. Joe slid away on his back as he landed on the solid ground again. Marowak turned to him again. Before it could try another attack however Mina, the tiny Cubone, jumped in its way, stopping it from hurting him. Marowak stopped, surprised by Mina's actions. Mina held out her hands, looking determined. She began barking something in Pokémon speech at it. It was not clear to any of the humans what she was saying. Occasionally Mina would point back at Rocky or Joe and say something to her mother. Marowak seemed to be paying full attention to her, not once glancing at any of the humans. Mina finally finished, her arms extended towards the three trainers. She looked desperately at her mother, trying very desperately to explain something to her. Whatever she said it seemed to be working. Marowak looked from Mina to Rocky, then Joe, then back to Mina, then back to Rocky, then Back to Mina… Then back to Rocky. She pushed Mina aside, stomping purposefully towards the trainer Mina was now calling her owner. Rocky backed away slightly, seeing that it was walking towards him specifically. Marowak stood directly in front of him now. It just glared at him for a while, sizing him up. Rocky stood his ground. He needed to show Marowak that he could take care of Mina. The only way he could do that, however was not showing fear in the face of danger… in the face of her mother. After almost a minute of silence and stillness from the two of them Marowak raised an arm and… held out her hand. Rocky looked at it for a second, then took it simply. Marowak shook his hand, its expression of hatred fading away and its eyes turning back to its normal white. Rocky smiled at Marowak, Marowak did not smile back. It just stared at him, almost as if he wasn't there.

"Thank you." An ill sounding female voice said from every direction. It seemed to be Marowak that was talking. "Take care of her." She told him. Rocky let go of her hand and nodded, respectfully.

"Don't worry." He told it. "I will." Marowak seemed so sigh. If there wasn't a skull covering its mouth Rocky would have sworn it was smiling.

"Good." Marowak said, happily. "Now I can rest." Suddenly Marowak's skin began to lighten and become pale, slowly becoming transparent. Its body was beginning to fade away. Mina ran forwards and reached out, trying to grab Marowak's hand but it simply passed through its body like it was just air. Mina cried out, sadly as Marowak waved goodbye to her. Then, suddenly, Marowak was gone. Mina, Rocky and the rest of the group stood motionless for several seconds. A large tear began to trail down from Mina's eye. She sniffed loudly and Rocky rushed up and hugged her. He lifted her up and held her in his arms. Mina began to cry. She hugged Rocky's shirt in grief and lay in his arms for a while. Joe stood up again, surprised by the outcome of these events. He joined Winters side and Ralph joined him, his right wing slightly limp from where Marowak had stood on it.

"Life's not fare, is it." Joe said quietly so that only Winter and Ralph could hear him. "I mean it gives us people we learn to care about and then take them away from us in a harsh manor."

"That's life for you." Winter agreed. "But you just need to remember, no matter what happens, you'll always have your friends to help you through your grief." She smiled at him, kindly. He smiled back.

"Thanks for helping me see sense earlier." Joe told her, gratefully. "If you two weren't around to help me then who knows where I'd be right now."

"It's fine." Winter told him. "I'd hate to see a friend in pain. Besides I know how you feel. Just remember I've always got your back." She added. She then looked at him concerned. "Are you ok, now?" She asked, concerned for him. Joe looked at her and gave a weak smile.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine. Why shouldn't I be? I think I'm over the worst of it now." He told her.

"Are you sure." Winter asked, not sure whether to believe him. Joe smiled again, this time a little more weakly.

"Yes, I'm sure." He told her, more strongly. "I'm fine." Ralph coughed suddenly. The two trainers looked back at him. He was looking cynically at the two of them, an eyebrow raised. He was clearly trying to tell them something, though it probably wasn't very nice. Joe laughed, sheepishly turned away, his smile fading away when he felt they could no longer see his face. The three of them Joined Rocky and Mina.

"What now?" Rocky asked them.

"We should probably go see Mr Fuji." Winter told them. "He would be interested to know that we were successful."

"We'd better get going quickly." Rocky told them.

"Great." Mr Fuji cheered as the trio returned. He served them each a mug of boiling tea outside and shook each of their hands in turn. "You succeeded in Becalming Marowak's spirit. Excellent! You truly are some amazing trainers." He patted Mina on the head and she smiled back at him. "So what do you plan now?" He asked them, finally sitting down and trying to contain his excitement.

"We can't stay here much longer." Joe informed him. "We should get moving soon. We had plans to move on to Celadon city in the morning."

"Ok." Mr Fuji said simply. "But before you go I have another gift for you. A thank you gift for all your help." He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a small, brown flute with a large circle shape near the end that was painted red and white like a pokéball. Mr Fuji handed it to Joe who took it in both hands and held it on his lap. "That's a pokèflute." Mr Fuji told him. "You can use it to wake up a sleeping Pokémon in or out of battle. It's cheaper than Awakenings and a lot easier to keep using then chesto berries"

"Well thank you very much, Mr Fuji." Joe said finally. "But out of battle I can't think of any uses it will have." Mr Fuji just smiled.

"Oh I feel that you may find it useful at some point." He said, cunningly, almost as if he knew something. "Anyway." He said suddenly. "You'd best be off. You've places to go, people to battle and Pokémon to catch."

"Thank you for all your help." Winter told him as the group began to walk away.

"No, thank you." Mr Fuji called after them. "By Mina. Take good care of her for me."

"I will." Rocky replied. The group walked away, towards Celadon city. Mina, the small Cubone followed after them, dragging her small bone club behind her.


	17. Chapter 17: Eevee, the Evolution Pokemon

Joe walked slowly through the field of tall grass, his hands brushing through the blades. He walked alone, away from the rest of the group who were a couple of metres behind him and sticking to the path. Even Ralph, his closest friend, was not with him. He just wanted to be alone for now, walking his way through the thin reeds, creating his own path. His friends had gotten rather worried about him. Ralph especially hadn't taken an eye of him since the funeral. The previous night had really seen something that told him just how Joe really was coping. As the group had set up camp just outside of Lavender town Joe had decided to sleep a bit further away from the rest of the group. As Rocky and Winter had nodded of and Ralph was about to do the same, he thought he could hear something. It sounded like sobbing coming from Joe's area. He was crying in his sleep but he didn't want the others to see him. Seeing his friend like this was heart-breaking for Ralph. He may not have known Joe for much longer than a few weeks but they had already built up such a strong bond it felt more like years. The next morning he had hardly said anything. He just packed up his stuff and continued walking, before anyone else was ready to leave. Ralph watched him now, slowly trudging through the small forest of grass blades and felt sad. He wanted to help his friend but he didn't know what to do. He just decided to give him a bit of space. That was what he needed, he felt. Winter and Rocky however were still very worried about him.

"He hasn't spoken since yesterday." Rocky whispered, in case Joe could hear them. "He hasn't eaten and he's hardly slept. I think he's really letting his grief get to him."

"He's still struggling to get over it." Winter told him. "I've seen these symptoms. He just needs some time alone to mourn."

"I don't wish to hurry him but Team Rocket won't wait for him to get over it." Rocky told her, factually. "They'll take advantage of him like this."

"Grief isn't something people just get over like that." Winter explained, simply. "I should know. I know what he is going through and what he _will_ go through. Right now he's upset but that will change into anger and then depression. He'll have nightmares, seeing the one he lost. In the worst case scenario he'll completely cut himself off and start thinking dark thoughts."

"So he'll become a Goth?" Rocky asked. Winter elbowed him strongly in the stomach, shushing him quiet.

"Not the word I would have used." She told him in an angry whisper.

"Ok." Rocky gasped, getting his breath back. For a thirteen year old girl, Winter was surprisingly strong… and had sharp elbows! "What should we do to help him, then?" Winter didn't answer him. She didn't really know what to do that could help.

"Just keep an eye on him for now." She said finally. "Stop him from doing anything reckless or dumb. Keep him out of harm as best as we can."

"What about battling?" Rocky asked her.

"I think that might help him." Winter explained. "Maybe if he has a good battle and trains his Pokémon more he might feel better. It's the only thing we really can do right now." The two of them went silent again. Ralph had heard their entire conversation. He stopped and looked over at Joe who was getting further and further away. He felt like he had to try something to at least cheer him up. He looked around for something, anything to give him an idea. He spotted a small, straight branch on the side of the road, just the right size for him to hold in his mouth. He flew over and clenched the stick between his teeth and flew at full speed towards his friend. He shot past winter and Rocky as he did so, slightly knocking them forwards. The two trainers watched after him, slightly surprised by his sudden energy.

"What's he doing?" Rocky asked, surprised after recovering from being battered by Ralph's tailwind.

"I suppose he's going to try and cheer him up." Winter thought aloud. The two of them stopped and watched for a few seconds. Ralph quickly caught up and levitated next to Joe's side, offering him the branch which he had picked up with his mouth. Joe walked on, hardly noticing him. Ralph looked deflated. He nudged him and Joe looked at him through the corner of his eye.

"Not right now." Joe told him, speaking in a hollow, depressed voice. Ralph nudged him again and twitched his eyebrows, trying to cheer him up. Joe turned his head, looking Ralph in the eyes. He was struggling to smile through the branch in his teeth but he was doing his best. Joe chuckled slightly. Ralph nudged him again, lightly. Joe laughed a bit louder. Ralph did a small odd dance in the air with his wings. Joe stopped, trying to keep back his laughs.

"Alright." He smiled, trying not to laugh too much. "What do you want?" Ralph stuck the branch he had grabbed out of his jaw and prodded Joe with the side. He then gestured to his side, trying to act throwing the branch. "You want me to throw that?" Joe asked. "For you?" He chuckled mildly. "Ralph… you're a bat, not a dog. You're not designed to fetch." Ralph raised a jovial eyebrow and grinned cheekily through the large amount of plant matter in his mouth. Joe chuckled again and held out a hand. Ralph dropped the branch into his palm and Joe gripped it through cold fingers. "Ok then." He dropped his arm to his side.

"I don't think we'll need to worry too much about being there for him all the time." Rocky told Winter as they watched the performance Ralph was giving.

"No, not with a friend like him around." she agreed. "Not with someone like Ralph to be there for him."

Ralph readied himself to fly at a sudden moment. Joe pulled back his arm.

"Let's see how far you can fly then." Joe waited for a few seconds… then released. The stick flew through the air and took a lot of distance. Ralph shot of after it, ripping through the long grass underneath him. He caused a huge air wave through the reeds, uprooting several Oddish from the ground which had burrowed themselves in to keep them safe. He kept on gliding through the air at incredible speeds. The stick began to drop down out of the air. Ralph stot forwards just coming up to it. Before it could land Ralph shot up slightly and grabbed it between his two strong jaws and skidding to a stop. He turned back around and flew back towards Joe, the branch hanging from his mouth as his face was battered by the strong winds he created as he flew. Within a couple of seconds he was back in front of his trainer, offering him the stick back. Joe looked at him stunned, a smile quickly growing on his face.

"Wow." He laughed and patted him on the shoulder (Or what you could call a shoulder. It was more like a wing joint then anything humanlike) He took the stick from Ralph's mouth again. "You must have flown over 60 feet" He added. "In less than 8 seconds!" He readied his arm again and threw the stick. This time it went a bit further. Ralph had no trouble catching up to it. Again he caught it with his mouth, just avoiding passing through the treeline to the forest just to the side of the route, and brought it back, this time in just over 7 seconds. Joe laughed, stunned by how fast he was. "Ok." He said, finally. "One last go." He pulled back his arm, Ralph readied his wings… and the stick was thrown. It sailed through the air, going further then the last two times. Ralph shot of, his streamlined body allowing him to fly faster and faster each second. As the stick began to come down he saw the treeline before him. He didn't slow down, however. Every cell in his body told him to keep going. He was already so far and he wanted that stick! As the stick disappeared into the treeline Ralph reached the edge and disappeared in a sea of green and brown. A heavy wind shot through, the tree leaves rustle madly… then he was gone. Joe, Winter and Rocky stood, patiently watching. Joe was a little surprised by how fast he had gone, and how far. For several seconds nothing happened. A couple more seconds passed and still Ralph did not come back out.

"Do you think he's ok?" Winter asked. Joe looked back at her.

"Why hasn't he come back out?" Rocky also asked. Joe didn't respond. He began to run through the green sea of grass blades, towards the forest which Ralph had shot into.

Ralph slowed down a little, nearly knocking into a tree as he entered. The stick could be anywhere by now. He looked around, trying to spot the specific one he was after all while dodging out of the way of the trees. He looked up, around and behind him. He stopped, trying to get a better view of the area. The stick was long gone now. There was no point staying here anymore. He turned around and was about to start heading back the way he had come when he bumped into something small, soft and in his way. He was bumped backwards slightly from the surprise and impact. The Pokémon he had bumped into was also knocked back. Ralph shook his head and looked back up, seeing for the first time what it was he had bumped into. In front of him, shaking its own head and sitting on the floor only a feet from where they had hit, was a small, brown, fluffy Pokémon with a fluffy tail and two long and thin ears. It had a pale brown main around its neck, four small legs and two large, black berry eyes and a small button nose. It looks like an adorable mixture of a dog, cat and fox all in one Pokémon. The small Pokémon looked up at him, slightly intimidated by the way he looked. Here was a small, brown, fluffy cute Pokémon face to face with a large, purple, unfriendly, creepy looking bat like Pokémon with large white teeth. It backed up a little, feeling slightly frightened. Clearly it had never met a Pokémon like Ralph before. Ralph, realising that it was scared of him, tried to show he wasn't intending to harm it. He tried smiling but that seemed to make things worse. The small Pokémon started crying out in fear. It called out, hoping something would come save it. There was a reply from not too far away. The Pokémon had got a response. Ralph looked around in surprise. Another Pokémon was coming towards them. A larger, yellow Pokémon came into view. It was running very quickly and within seconds it was by the small Pokémon's side. It was about double the size of the smaller Pokémon behind it. It had the same face shape with black berry eyes and button nose as well as a main around its neck… but its main was jagged and white. Its skin was a bright electric yellow and it had jagged fur that looked like it was held up by a small static charge. It had a large clump of jagged tail fur instead of a tail that sat bolt upright at the end of its body. It stood, prowling on four thin yellow legs designed for sprinting. It growled at Ralph, clearly not threatened by his looks. Ralph could see static building up in its fur. It was clearly readying to use an electric attack at him. Another Pokémon walked into view. Like the previous one it was twice the size of the smaller Pokémon, standing at around 2 feet tall. It had red fur and a long, fluffy tail that was fire orange and a large, fluffy main in the same colour. It had the same face as the other two Pokémon but instead of looking fearsome it looked calm. It just looked Ralph over, its two large red ears twitching in the forest air. It exchanged glances with the yellow Pokémon and then with the brown Pokémon. It then joined their side and readied an attack itself. Ralph wanted to run but he felt that that would just provoke them. The red Pokémon drew a hot breath, the yellow Pokémon gathered a static charge and were about to attack when something else pushed its way through the trees. The two Pokémon stopped and looked back to see it standing behind them. Ralph looked up at it too, both glad, afraid and absolutely confused.

The young trainers sprinted through the field, the long grass whipping at their sides. Joe wasn't about to slow down any time soon. It wasn't like Ralph was likely to be in trouble, even Joe knew his friend was able to take care of himself. Still, he couldn't help feel a bit worried for him. The group weren't too far away from the treeline when someone started to come through it from the other side. The branches rustled and the leaves shook slightly as something pushed its way through. It wasn't Ralph. Whatever it was coming through was humanoid at the very least. The trio stopped and watched. Out of the trees walked a young male trainer in a light brown shirt and simple jeans. His hair was the casual short cut that most young male trainers had. Behind him followed four Pokémon. Each of them were very strange. The first two Pokémon to walk out after him were around 2 foot tall each. One of them had red fur with an orange main and tail, the other was yellow with a white main and no tail. Behind them followed the smaller, brown Pokémon with the same face. The fourth Pokémon was 5 foot 11 and was a real surprise to the three trainers.

"Ralph!" Joe shouted, spotting his friend traveling with this other trainer. Ralph saw him too and flew back over to join him. The trainer and his three Pokémon stood back a little, not sure what the new people in front of them were going to do. He simply waved a hand at them, friendly.

"Hello." He announced in an attempted friendly manor. He looked at Ralph who was now floating at Joe's side. "Is that your Pokémon?" He asked him. Joe turned to Ralph, then back to the new trainer.

"Yes, he's mine." Joe told him. "And who are you?" The trainer smiled, disarmingly at him.

"My name's Chris." The trainer told them. "One of my Pokémon bumped into your friend there while we were training in the forest. Damn near attacked him. Sorry about that."

"Well he doesn't seem hurt." Joe replied, simply. "So no harm done." He smiled back. "I'm Joe. This is Ralph." He added pointing to Ralph beside him.

"A Crobat." Chris thought aloud. Joe was surprised he recognised what Pokémon he was.

"Yes." He said, cautiously.

"Don't see any of them in Kanto." Chris continued. "You see a trainer with one occasionally in Johto."

"You've been to other regions then." Winter asked him. "I'm winter by the way." She added. She then pointed to Rocky who was standing next to her. "And this is Rocky." Rocky waved at him.

"Hi." He said. Chris waved back.

"Yeah. I've actually come to this region from Johto." Chris explained. "I of course brought my Pokémon with me." He pointed one by one to his own Pokémon. "This is Flareon…" he said, pointing to the red Pokémon. ", this is Jolteon…" He continued, pointing to the yellow Pokémon. He then pointed to the final, smaller Pokémon in between the two larger Pokémon. "And this is Eevee."

"They all look very similar." Rocky thought aloud. "Are all your Pokémon in the same evolutionary line?" He asked Chris.

"Yep." Chris replied. "Eevee can evolve into three Pokémon in this region. Flareon and Jolteon are just two of them." The small brown Pokémon rubbed itself against his leg and he stroked it. "The other is Vaporeon. That's what I'm planning to evolve Eevee here into."

"So Eevee evolves three times." Winter said, thinking she understood the premise. Chris shook his head, seeing her confused mistake.

"No, it can evolve into three different Pokémon. But only one of them, depending on the stone you give it to hold." He looked back at his own Pokémon. "Flareon you get with a fire stone and Jolteon you get with a thunder stone. I'm assuming you can guess what stone is used for Vaporeon." He told them. Winter didn't even need to try.

"Water Stone." She told them. Chris nodded.

"Well done."

"Wish I had a Pokémon like that." Joe joked. Chris smiled at him, simply and mischievously.

"You might be able to." He told him. Joe looked at him, confused by what he said.

"Sorry?" He asked.

"I said I could give you one of my own Eevee's." Chris repeated. "If you want one, that is." Joe looked at him, surprised by his offer.

"Well I'd love to accept but I don't really have any Pokémon on me that I'm willing to trade right now." Joe told him in response. Chris continued to smile.

"That's fine." He told him. "I don't need anything in return. You look like a decent trainer so you can have one for free." Joe continued to look surprised.

"Really?" Joe asked again, making sure he had heard right. Chris nodded. Joe looked at Ralph who seemed excited as well. He then turned to Winter and Rocky who were nodding him on. He turned back to Chris.

"Ok then." Joe told him finally. "I'll take one." Chris nodded in approval.

"Ok then." He reached for one of the multiple pokéballs on his belt. He pulled out a newer, less weather warn ball and handed it to Joe. "This one is a young female." Chris told him, Joe taking the ball from his hand. "I was planning to evolve her into a Vaporeon so I named her Nami." Joe held the pokéball in his hand.

"Nami?" He asked.

"It means Waves in local Japanese." Chris explained. "Not really imaginative but it sounds nice." Joe clicked the button on the front of the ball. The button clicked open but nothing happened. No red beam shot out and no Pokémon appeared. Joe stared inside, seeing the hollow, black inside of the pokéball.

"It's empty." He said, surprised. He flipped the ball over. "There's no Pokémon in it."

"There is." Chris told him, simply. "It's just outside of the ball right now." He looked down at the small Eevee by his side, the same one that Ralph had bumped into in the forest and frightened by accident. It stepped forwards, still feeling intimidated by Ralph and his friends. "She's yours now." Chris told him, kindly. He nudged the small Eevee forwards. It stumbled nervously closer, not sure what to make of its new master. Joe welcomed it forwards, his arms open. It cautiously walked up to him and sniffed his hand. It recoiled in disgust. His hand smelt like sweat and teenage human. Chris chuckled at its reaction. "I can also sell you a water stone if you want one." Chris added. "It won't be cheap though. While I can breed Eevee's myself I have to find these stones. They're not common to come across." Joe looked at him, considering the offer.

"How much is one?" He asked. Chris thought for a second.

"5,100 poke dollars." He said finally. Joe exclaimed in surprise.

"That much!" He asked, shocked by how expensive it was. "I can't afford that!" Chris shook his head sadly.

"I can't sell them any cheaper, sorry." He told him. "Don't worry. You could probably find a stone by yourself in some old ruins or caves. Maybe even at the Celadon mart." With that he picked up his bag and slung it over his back. "Well it was nice meeting you three." He told them. "But I've got to go. Take care of Nami as best you can. She's a bit shy but she'll warm to you eventually." He patted his knee and called to his other two Pokémon. They started walking back the way they had come into the forest again. Flareon and Jolteon were saying their goodbyes. Flareon Nuzzled Nami's cheek, affectionately and Jolteon patted her back with its front paw, encouragingly. Nami hugged them back, purring sadly. It hadn't been obvious straight away but looking at them together now it became clear to Joe that Nami was their child. Jolteon and Flareon were her mother and father. With one last purr goodbye to their child they followed after their owner who gave one final wave goodbye, then disappearing in between the trees. Joe looked at the small, brown Pokémon at his feet. It seemed to be shaking slightly, a couple of tears staining its face. Joe knelt beside it and stroked it lightly, trying to calm it. The Eevee looked up at him, afraid and alone. Joe smiled disarmingly at it. It tried to smile back but it was still very nervous. Joe picked it up and held it like a puppy in his arms.

"She's a bit frightened." Winter said, awing at its adorableness. "Poor thing."

"How do I make it feel better?" Joe asked his friends.

"Just let it walk with us for a bit." Rocky told him. "It'll soon get used to you as its owner."

Joe did that. He let Nami, his new Eevee which he had been given, walk beside him for a bit of time so as to get used to his presence. It didn't seem to be helping much. While Nami did get used to traveling with them it didn't seem to be happy. Joe tried using it in a couple of battles but it was reluctant to fight. Every time Joe instructed her to use a move she'd cower back and hide behind his legs, leaving one of his other Pokémon to take care of the foes. Pretty soon night time came along. Rain had started to fall and the group took shelter in the forest, setting up a rain cover above them. Again Joe slept away from the group. Ralph and Nami had slept next to each other. As much as Nami was afraid of Ralph she could see that he wasn't in any way going to try and hurt her. Anyway if a wild Pokémon did turn up she knew he would be able to fight them off. Joe didn't sleep any better that night. In his dreams he saw Sting, standing before him, blood oozing from a small wound in his chest and his eyes dead and pail. It held out a drill, Joe tried to grab it but every time he did Sting would get further away. Joe would run forward to try and grab him but Sting would run away. Suddenly he would trip and fall forwards. He fell out down, the open sky of nothingness before him getting closer and closer each second. Then suddenly, the ground would appear, flat, burned and dead. Then, just as he was about to hit the ground with a splat… He sat up in his bed, calling out in surprise, cold sweat pouring down his face. He looked around. No one else seemed to stir. He lay back down and held his arms around his head, tears beginning to fall again. Ralph and Nami were still awake. They watched him trying to fall back asleep. Ralph sighed sadly. Nami looked at him. She seemed to be seeing something more in the two of them. Ralph rolled over, trying to get back to sleep. Nami lay back down, looking at her new trainer. She didn't stay down long. She got up and trotted over to Joe and curled up next to him. He looked down at her and hugged her close. He smiled weakly and tried falling back asleep. Nami smiled at him, even though he had already dozed off again.

The next day dawned and the group continued on their way. Joe had again split himself of from the rest of the group. The only one travelling with him at that point was Nami. Ralph had kept his distance, feeling sorry for his friend. Even though he felt like yesterday had been an improvement, now that a new day had started it seemed as though almost nothing had changed since. As though it had had no effect on how he was coping what so ever. Joe had decided he would try and have a go training Nami in a battle. Nami was still very nervous about fighting. He'd have to find a way of boosting her confidence and, if possible, making her less timed so she would at least be of some help during a battle.

"You guys go on for a bit." Joe called to Winter and Rocky. "I'm going to train here for a bit." They nodded in understanding.

"Just don't take too long." Winter called to him. "And if you get in any trouble come find us."

"We'll be near the underground path gate." Rocky added. Joe nodded and walked off into the tall grass at the side of the path. He released Pippy to act as a target while he attempted to get Nami to use a move. He chose Pippy out of all his Pokémon because he was the least intimidating and Joe felt introducing Nami to Pitt or Cinders may not be the best choice at this point. Besides, Pippy was helpful, friendly and adorable.

"Ok, Nami." Joe explained, kneeling down to her level. He used his hands to point in the direction he wanted her to look. He could feel her shivering afraid. "Just use an attack on Pippy there. He won't attack you back. Just use a move on him and we'll go from there. Try and growl at him." Nami gulped. She shivered slightly and breathed in heavily. She tried to growl but it came out in a high pitched squeak. Joe sighed. "Ok, not exactly a growl but we'll get there." He patted Nami on the head in an attempt to cheer her up. Nami looked back at him and tried to smile but her nerves were getting to her. "Ok. Let's try actually attacking now." Joe told her. "Tackle Pippy." Nami stared at him, worried. Pippy didn't seem fazed. He knew that he was in no danger. "Just hit him in the stomach with your head." Joe explained. Nami gulped and readied to run. She darted forward, more in a skip then run. She came up to Pippy, lowered her head and nudged him lightly. Pippy tilted back slightly but stayed standing on two feet. He looked at her sadly. Nami looked up after shaking away the surprise of impact and looked disappointed as she realised she had hardly budged him. Joe exclaimed quietly. He walked forwards and Joined his two Pokémon. "You need to hit him a bit stronger than that." Joe explained, seeing Nami and Pippy's sad expression. Ralph, a few feet away from them, watched the training from the side. He sighed, slightly disappointed for Nami. It was clear she hadn't done any training before. She must be younger than they had thought. He would willingly help out but it was obvious his looks intimidated her. He and Joe had decided it was best for her that he kept far enough away from them for her to stay calm until she got used enough for him to travel closer by. Still Ralph kept an eye out for them. If anything bad should happen he wasn't far away. For another hour Joe trained, trying to get Nami to successfully use a move. It seemed she was almost there with the techniques but she didn't seem to have the confidence to pull them off, even if she was using them on Pippy, a much smaller threat than any wild Pokémon. Joe scratched his head. He didn't know how he was going to build up her confidence but he knew he'd find some way. Maybe if he got into an actual fight it would help her.

"You wait here." Joe told her, running further into the field. He purposefully ran through the large clumps of long grass trying to disturb some wind Pokémon for Nami to fight. For a while nothing seemed to come out. He kept on trying, kicking the bushes and throwing stones into nearby trees. A couple of pidgey's scattered as their nests were disturbed. One came swooping in towards him. Now was his chance to get Nami to fight. Quickly he called her over and commanded her to attack. Pidgey flapped in front of her face, squawking madly at her, assuming she was the one that had disturbed its nest.

"Tackle it, Nami." Joe commanded. "You can do this!" He added, encouragingly. Nami gulped down her fear and jolted towards the wild Pidgey. She hit it square in the stomach and Pidgey was knocked back slightly, taking damage but not enough to frighten it away or cause it problems. Pidgey growled at her and Nami's nerves broke. She howled in fear and tried hiding behind Joe. Joe looked down at her peering out through the legs of his jeans. Pidgey seemed to laugh at this.

"It's ok." Joe told Nami, kneeling down beside her and petting her quivering body. She looked at him, terrified. "Just try growling this time." Nami nodded at him, understanding and determined but at the same time still frightened and nervous. She stepped forward nervously and did her best to stand defiantly. Pidgey looked at her, not at all intimidated by her presence. Nami let out a small but strong growl that echoed quietly around the field. Surprisingly enough the wild Pidgey seemed to struggle back slightly. Nami's move had worked on it enough for it to think twice about fighting her.

"Good work, Nami." Joe praised her. Nami smiled up at him, proud. "Now try tackling it again." He continued. Nami did exactly that. When Pidgey swooped in, trying to land a hit she jumped out of the way just in time and rammed into its feathered side. Pidgey flew back, taking proper damage this time from Nami's attack. It seemed to be thinking more cautiously about this fight. Nami meanwhile had suddenly gained a lot more confidence. Joe was right. Practicing with her in a battle against a wild Pokémon had done her confidence good. He would still need to work on strategy, however. Pidgey suddenly swooped in for another attack. It kicked a clump of sandy dirt into her eyes with its talon feet. She shut her eyes and coughed as some of the dust caught in her lungs. As she opened her eyes again Pidgey was standing right in front of her face. It pecked her forehead. She flinched backwards in pain and annoyance. It pecked her again and again and again, slowly pushing her backwards. She swatted out at it but it jumped up over her paw and took off, flying away from the battle. Joe exclaimed annoyed. The damn thing had fled. And they were doing so well, too. "Oh well" He declared, looking down at Nami in front of him. "You did a good job for your first fight." He picked up Nami from the floor who purred happily. He hugged her, proud of their achievement. She rubbed her forehead against his chest, innocently. Joe laughed. She had come a long way since yesterday when she didn't even want to travel with him out of fear. Now she was brave enough to take on a ticked off Pidgey

"Going well?" A female voice asked from behind him. Joe and his Pokémon turned around on the spot. Winter had walked back to join them. She stood, hands in pockets, only a few metres away. She looked happy but she didn't show a smile.

"How long have you been standing there?" Joe asked her.

"Not long." She told him, honestly. "Only a minute or so. You were doing so well so I felt I shouldn't disturb you." She walked up to him.

"We were nearly there." He told her, annoyed. "If it hadn't fled then I feel that Nami here would have been fine with any other battles. But she didn't make it faint so she doesn't know how far she may need to go to do so in a trainer battle."

"Oh, I don't imagine that would be a problem." Winter explained to him. "When she actually takes part in one she'll know what to do." She stroked Nami's head. Interestingly enough Nami didn't seem to shy away from her like she had with Joe, Rocky and Ralph. Maybe her confidence really had grown. That or Winter was just very good with young Pokémon. "You've been here a while now." Winter told him. "Rocky and I have already reached the underground tunnel to Celadon city. We're just waiting for you to come back now." Joe knelt down and let Nami back onto the floor. He then stood back up and confronted Winter.

"Ok." He said simply, sounding a little saddened. He'd actually enjoyed training his new Pokémon, even though it hadn't been easy. But he was keeping his friends back, let alone himself. They had already arranged to travel to Celadon city to take on the gym there. Still he didn't feel ready to take on another gym. Not so soon. But he pushed himself and carried on. "Let's go." He decided. He was about to walk away when he heard a sudden, quiet hissing sound from behind them. Suddenly Ralph started to growl at something in the long grass. Joe looked at his friend then at the grass. He couldn't see anything unusual.

"What's wrong?" Winter asked him. Joe just shrugged, a little worried by his sudden hostility for what looked like nothing.

"Ralph, are you ok?" He asked. Ralph didn't reply. He just continued to growl at the grass, not taking his eyes of it. Pippy too was now growling at the grass in front of him. He had backed up from the reeds and his fur was standing on end, small sparks of static appearing in his cheek pouches. Nami just looked at the two of them, a bit frightened by their sudden change. She looked into the grass herself and suddenly froze absolutely still, rooted to the spot. She had an expression of absolute heart stopping fear. Joe looked down and saw her standing motionless. Now he was worried. "Nami?" He asked, nudging her with his foot. She didn't move. Joe followed her gaze into on specific patch of tall grass. For a moment he thought he saw something moving. He peered in a bit closer. Suddenly two small red dots appeared through the shadowed leaves. At first they seemed to be lights but it didn't take him long to realise that they were not lights but eyes. A pair of bright red eyes were looking out at him. There was a small movement of purple beside it and another pair of eyes appeared. Then another pair appeared on the opposite side. Six eyes looked out from the grass at the five bodies.

"What is that?" Winter asked, seeing them now. Joe pulled her back quickly as he saw movement from one of them.

"Trouble." He told her, simply. Suddenly the grass erupted with life as three large purple snake Pokémon rushed out and attacked. One of them charged straight at Joe's legs and would have managed to bite him if Ralph Hadn't knocked it aside just in time.

"Ekans!" Winter exclaimed in surprise. "We need to get out of here, fast!" The second one went after Pippy who managed to dodge out of its way before it could grab him but now it was chasing him around the grass. The third went for Nami. She stood motionlessly still. Instead of grabbing her, however it just glared at her. She didn't budge at all, a small whimper escaping from her mouth. It lashed out with its tail and struck her away. She rolled away in a furry pile. As she tried to get back onto her feet she was suddenly grabbed very tightly by a long, purple, rattle-tipped tail. Ekans crushed her slowly in its grip. Nami squirmed in pain and tried to free a leg but Ekans's grip was too strong for her to move. Ralph saw her in trouble and was about to try and help her when the first Ekans jumped up and grabbed his wing, pulling him down. It wrapped itself around his wings, stopping him from being able to fly. Ralph tried to struggle off but it bi, stopping him fighting back. Pippy saw him in trouble and managed to fire a short bolt of electricity at it which successfully hit, causing it to clench up and slide off. However because Ekans was gripping onto Ralph he also got stunned by the attack. Ralph clenched up as well and his wings folded in. He tried to move but he just couldn't as his wings had gone limp. Pippy winced, embarrassed that he'd hit his friend as well. While he wasn't paying attention however the second Ekans had caught up with him and struck him in the back with its large purple head. Pippy flew forward and landed flat on his face. He rolled over to see the large snake looming 6 feet above him on its hind tail. Quickly, before the Ekans lunged, Pippy readied the static in his body and let out a huge flash of light, blinding the Ekans just before it bit down on his stomach. It recoiled in surprise, trying to get its sight back. Now was his chance. Pippy jumped up and slammed into Ekans' rearing front, knocking it completely over and onto its back. The two of them fell together towards the ground. The heavy thud that followed after was sudden but quiet. Quickly Pippy jumped of its stomach and shot a couple of static bolts into the unconscious Ekans, just to make sure. Meanwhile Nami was still struggling to get free from the third Ekans' grip. She tried struggling out but it was not loosening its grip. Finally she decided to take drastic measures. She opened her mouth wide and bit down on Ekans' tail. Ekans exclaimed and it let go, shooting back away from her to try and stop the pain. Nami spat in disgust. Ekans tasted like rotten plant, illness and biodegradable sludge. Ekans Looked up at her and glared again. It was about to attack again when they both heard Pippy shouting out. They turned their heads in his direction. Pippy was charging towards it, an angry, defensive expression on his face. He jumped up and was going to slam into its side when Ekans simply turned around and lashed out with his tail, knocking him away. Pippy crashed to the ground a few feet away, dust shooting up around him. Nami run over to him, worried for her companion's safety. She reached him and nudged his side. One of his eyes opened and looked at her staring over him. He smiled weakly and sat up. As he did so something to the side of him seemed to move slightly. He moved out of the way and saw that he had landed on something big and crystalline. He and Nami dug it out and saw what it really was. Joe and Winter who were still watching them gasped in genuine surprise. On the floor in front of them lay a large blue, crystal-like shard, long shaped and almost spear like. Somehow, it was a million to one chance, Pippy and Nami had found a Water Stone buried in the ground.

"That's a water stone." Winter told Joe. "What was that doing buried in this field?

"What does that matter?" Joe asked, suddenly excited. "I can now evolve Nami if I want."

"Are you sure you want to do that?" Winter asked him. Joe didn't even get the chance to reply. Nami had already touched the stone. She suddenly began to glow with the usual, recognisable bright white light that followed evolution. Small bubbles of water began appearing, covering her paw, spreading up her leg, covering her back and then engulfing her entirely in one giant water filled bubble. Pippy stepped back; the three Ekans which had moved in to attack had stopped, blinded by the light. Even Ralph, who had finally recovered from being shocked, was having to cover his eyes. Joe and Winter just watched amazed. Then as soon as the light had started it faded away. The bubble burst with a loud 'POP' and a small wave of water flooded out and dissolved into the dry ground. In its place stood a larger, light blue Pokémon with a large gill-like frill around its neck and a long thick tail reaching out from its back, tipped with a double paddle end for swimming. A frill like razing stuck out from the top of its spine and ran all the way down to the tip of its tail. It also had two frill like ears on the side of its head. Apart from this it was still very similar to Nami's Eevee form. It still had four long legs and an adorable face. Nami looked at her new form and smiled, happily. She felt a new strength in her body. A new confidence. She looked at Pippy who stood beside her. He seemed so much smaller now. Pippy looked up at her new form, surprised. He smiled at her, proud but also sad. His cute friend who was the same size as him was now less cute and a lot bigger. Joe smiled as well. He had already evolved his Pokémon without even needing to choose the stone for it.

"Vaporeon." Winter smiled at him. "A good choice for her."

"I guess it's in her name." Joe tried to joke. He then stopped, realising that winter didn't get it. "Ok. Let's take care of these Ekans." He decided. "Nami, use water gun." He commanded his newly evolved Pokémon. It wasn't tough for her to understand how to pull this move of. She shot a large spray of water at the three charging Ekans, washing them away. Without hesitating they quickly sped away back into the grass, trying to dodge Nami chasing after them and hitting them away with her large tail. Joe laughed, overjoyed. He ran up and hugged his new Pokémon. Nami chirped at him, happily. Pippy patted her shoulder and nudged her blue side. Ralph too joined in with congratulations. He smiled at her, Nami smiled back.

It didn't take long for them to join back up with Rocky near the underground tunnel. It had been an interesting day. After all it wasn't most weeks that a trainer was given a Pokémon and that Pokémon then evolved the very next day. After a few minutes of explaining what happened they began heading down into the tunnel. It wasn't very well lit but Nami was ok with that. She kept close to her friends, Joe and Ralph. She wasn't afraid of them anymore. Now she wasn't afraid of anything.


	18. Chapter 18: Rival Battle

"What would I do without you guys?" Joe thought to himself as he walked through the damp, poorly lit underground tunnel bellow Saffron city. He lifted his hood up a bit more to cover the back of his neck from the cold breeze. Winter, who was walking next to him, had done a similar thing, slipping on her thick rain coat over her shoulders. Rocky, who was walking on the other side of them, didn't seem fazed by the sudden cold. If anything he seemed to enjoy it. Ralph too looked a little chilly. He was currently using his large wings to cover his body while using his smaller wings to stay afloat. In doing this it did mean however that every now and then he'd spin over and end up flying upside down.

"I mean really. Without you two I wouldn't have even made it as far as Viridian Forest." He continued in his head. He glanced to his right side and noticed that Winter was looking at him.

"What are you smiling at?" She asked, kindly but with a hint of concern. Joe suddenly noticed that he was in fact giving a small, slightly week smiling. He quickly relaxed his jaw and acted like it hadn't happened.

"No reason" He lied.

It didn't take the group very long to make it out of the underground tunnel. Soon they came across the stairs that led up above the surface again. They stepped out into the calm noon sun which blinded them as their eyes began to adjust to the outside world again. Joe quickly pulled his hood up to cover his eyes from the suns gaze. Winter nudged him and quickly told him to 'Pull it down.' But he did not respond to her. Before they had even taken a proper step onto the dusty dry road a voice called for them from not too far away. It seemed to be coming from behind them, back down the tunnel. They looked back the way they had come and saw a very recognisable figure rushing towards them. A small, blue turtle Pokémon following after him. It looked like a squirtle, except it was almost three times the size of one, as well as having a long, jet like white tail protruding from the back of its shell between its two fat legs. It was also a darker blue and had white wave-like fins on both sides of its head. The figure was waving at them now that they had noticed him. As the figure got closer Joe finally saw who it was. Of course he should have known straight away but sometimes people miss things that seem absolutely obvious.

"Well look who it is. Back from his many travels." Rocky laughed, joking. Winter smiled. The figure was now almost directly in front of them, smiling grandly, his short brown hair waving in the air. He smiled at his two newer friends and his one, old friend who he had know for most of his life.

"Joseph!" Tom cried with delight upon seeing his old friend. He rushed towards him, his new Wartortle waddling after him. Joe smiled weakly, his hood covering his right eye slightly. While he was happy to see his close friend his presence brought back a few bad recent memories. Last time they had met in Lavender town, one of Joe's Pokémon had been killed. He knew that Tom had nothing to do with that. Still, memories have a habit of linking themselves together.

"Hello, Tom." Joe called back in a slightly hollow, tired voice. Tom slowed down then stopped, his smile fading slightly. Clearly Joe was not coping well with his grief.

"How are you coping?" Tom asked, concerned.

"Just" Joe replied, simply.

"Right" Tom continued, not believing what his friend was telling him. "So how have you three been since we last met?" He asked the rest of the group. Winter, Rocky and Ralph simply shrugged (Ralph struggled more with this then the others as he did not have shoulders.)

"Living" Rocky told him. Tom nodded in a fake understanding manor.

"You guys are heading to Celadon city then?" Tom asked.

"Very perceptive of you." Winter wittily replied. "As it happens that is the case. One more gym to take on."

"Simply put." Joe congratulated her "Well done." Winter gave him a sarcastic smile out of the side of her mouth.

"Well have fun." Tom told them in an experienced yet serious tone. "Took her on myself. She may seem like no trouble but trust me, she's tough!" Joe and Ralph shared glances.

"Thanks for the help on that." Joe told him. "But we're a little away from Celadon city yet."

"Still gives you time to train then." Rocky told him.

"Actually that reminds me." Tom said suddenly, a thought popping into his mind. He remembered something he had promised them a while ago now. Since they had first met back up after so long. "We never had that battle, did we?" He reminded Joe.

"No." Joe remembered. "No we didn't, did we." He pulled his hood back down and gave an excited smile. "Maybe we should do that."

"Alright." Tom agreed. "Me and You. In the field. 4 vs 4."

"Actually 5 vs 4." Joe told him. "I got a new Pokémon yesterday."

"Really?" Tom asked, actually surprised. "What Pokémon was it?"

"An Eevee." Joe told him. "It's a Vaporeon now. I evolved her with a water stone we found."

"Nice." Tom congratulated him. "Almost a full team again." He clapped his hands together. "So" he laughed "shall we get started."

Tom and Joe stood opposite each other; at least 20 feet lay between them. The group had managed to lay out an approximate design for a Pokémon battle field in the grass, using their Pokémon to cut certain blades of grass and leave the outline of a field. Now the two trainers stood eye to eye on opposite sides of the make shift field. They both had arranged what Pokémon they would use first, now they waited for the other to make the first move. Rocky and Winter had taken a side seat, watching the battle from a couple of picnic seats they had set up on the edge of the path only a few feet from the edge of the battlefield. Tom was the first to release his Pokémon.

"Go, Weepinbell!" He exclaimed, throwing the pokéball into the pitch. The ball burst open and out glistened a midsized plant Pokémon. It was clearly the first evolution from Bellsprout, Tom's newest Pokémon. It had the same pink ring mouth and it had the same skin colour, light yellowish green. It also had two large leaves on its sides and two round dumb eyes that stared of into nothing. So tom had evolved more than one Pokémon since they last met. Now it was Joe's turn to choose a Pokémon. He gripped his pokéball and readied it. As he threw it through the air he cried "Let's do this, Cinders!" As his pokéball hit the ground his reliable Charmeleon appeared in front of him, grinning with the excitement of another battle. It had been a while since Cinders had last had a chance to fight. He seemed so different now. Not because he looked different but because his attitude was different. He seemed a lot more confident then he used to be, almost overconfident, cocky. Tom made the first move.

"Weepinbell, Vine whip!" He shouted. Weepinbell snapped out of its daze and swung forward. A couple of long, thick vines reached out from underneath its large side leaves and lashed forwards, towards Cinders.

"Cut them down!" Joe commanded. Cinders cackled, overexcited from the thrill of a fight. He rushed forward, right claw razed and slashed straight through the vines like they were paper. Weepinbell retreated a bit, surprised by how quickly Cinders was stopping his attacks.

"Keep going." Tom told it, encouragingly. Weepinbell glared at the large Charmeleon and shot more vines out. He kept lashing out with vine after vine but every time Cinders' claws simply cut through the thick plant matter. Suddenly Weepinbell changed its strategy. Instead of trying to hit him in the chest, his next two vines went for Cinders wrists. They shot out underneath him, climbed up his legs, wrapped around his side and tied his arms to his back. Suddenly Cinders was lifted off the ground and was left hanging in the air from weepinbell's vines. He growled down at the large bell shaped plant which just glared back, clearly not amused by his threat attempts. "Now, Weepinbell!" Tom called out. "Use razor leaf!" Weepinbell looked back at its trainer then back up at the hanging fire lizard. Suddenly it shook its leaves and a bunch of small, razor sharp crescent leaf blades shot out, aimed at Cinders above him.

"Quick, burn them!" Joe told Cinders, hurriedly. Cinders readied a red hot breath and, as the leaves were about to cut his face and body, He breathed out a plume of bright orange flame. The leaves melted as they were engulfed by his fire, leaving only their ashes to float away in the following plume of smoke. Finally Cinders stopped, a huge gust of black, soot-like smoke drifting out from his gaping mouth and nostrils. He spat a small puff of flames at the ground in defiance. Weepinbell looked rather surprised. So did Tom."

"Impressive." He complemented.

"That's just the starter." Joe wittily retorted. "Now take care of this overgrown plant." He called up to Cinders. Cinders flexed his arms and ripped through the vines holding him up. He dropped back to the ground and landed on his feet. He quickly gripped one of the retreating vines and pulled it backwards, towards him. Weepinbell was quite suddenly pulled forwards, their right side leading as the vine from that side was pulled on at full force. Weepinbell didn't seem to want to separate from the vine Joe noticed. It seemed that its vines were like an arm to it, and not in the context that it used it to pick stuff up. It was very strongly rooted into its side. Even though it was retractable, it was as much a part of it as the rest of its body. Cinders yanked the vine and Weepinbell was sent sailing towards it. As the large plant sailed by Cinders lashed out with his claws and slashed at its belly. Weepinbell crashed to the ground a few feet away. It quickly got back up, using its bruised and cut vines to raise itself. "Smokescreen!" Joe commanded. Cinders quickly released a ball shaped plume of pitch black smoke directly at Weepinbell. It landed at its feet (Well… you know where it landed.) and erupted into a huge field of blinding smoke. Weepinbell lashed around, trying to get rid of the blinding smoke. It rubbed its eyes and looked up to suddenly see Cinders standing right in front of it. He had charged through the smoke and crashed straight into the grass bell Pokémon, toppling it back over. Weepinbell shot a jet of purple goo at Cinders face which slopped over his face and burned away as the acid attacked his skin. Cinders stumbled back, trying to wipe the purple glop from his eyes and off his face. This was Weepinbell's chance. He quickly shot backup and slammed its side into Cinders chest. Cinders was knocked back but he didn't plan to give up. He took a huge inner breath and released a long, plume of blazing flame into Weepinbell's face. He kept on attacking, fire whipping from his mouth and nostrils and burning against Weepinbell's grass body. Finally Cinders ran out of flame and took a rough breath of oxyge. Weepinbell stood in front of him for several seconds, its eyes staring into space, before collapsing to the floor, unconscious. Tom exclaimed in disappointment. Joe cheered in delight. Winter and Rocky clapped, entertained.

"You've been doing a good job training your Pokémon." Tom complemented, clapping his hands. Joe bowed.

"Thank you. So kind." Joe joked.

"Though to be honest you had the type advantage over me." Tom continued. "Let's switch the tables around a bit." He looked down at his Wartortle who grinned at him. Tom nodded at it and Wartortle jumped onto the pitch. It stomped its large feet on the ground, causing the tuft to rip up as it kicked its legs about. Cinders turned and glared at his new assailant. He too began stomping his feet against the dirty ground. Pretty soon the entire pitch was covered in mud as the two Pokémon squared off at its centre. Finally one of them made a move. Cinders raised a glistening steel claw and slashed down at Wartortle. Wartortle however was prepared for this. It shrunk into its large shell and dropped to the ground, pulsing with a water wake. Cinders claw struck it and bounced back with a metal on bone f'tang. Cinders recoiled, surprised by how tough Wartortle's shell really was. Suddenly the shell began to spin rapidly on the spot. It span faster and fast until it shot up into the air and struck Cinders in the face. It was knocked away, dazed and stung. He looked back and was hit again; this time in the back by Wartortle's rotating shell. Cinders backed up, his claws out, trying to push the spinning disk away but all he managed to do was cut his palms on its sharp edge. He backed up and released another plume of burning embers on it but the fire seemed to reflect of its glistening gyrating body. Cinders began to panic. He charged back in, claws readied. Wartortle suddenly reappeared out of its shell and shot out a huge jet of water in Cinders face. Cinders was knocked back by the surprise of the attack. He skidded to a sudden stop right in front of Wartortle's angry glaring face. He gulped in a heavy breath and when he opened his mouth again a huge torrent of water sprayed forwards, crashing into Cinders torso and pushing him backwards. He tried to fight against the flow but the strength of the attack coupled with his weakness to water meant he just wasn't strong enough. Cinders was slowly whipped up and swept away by the strong torrent of water. Finally, after half a minute of none stop jet propulsion, Wartortle finally stopped. Cinders lay on the floor, unconscious and utterly soaked. Thankfully his tail flame was still lit, meaning he wasn't likely to die from being soaked this way. 1 down each. So far this battle was going very well. Joe exclaimed, annoyed.

"Damn." He hissed through gritted teeth. "Well played, my friend." He complemented. This time it was Tom who bowed dramatically.

"I dare say I took a bit of time to train as well." He said.

"So when did you evolve your Squirtle?" Joe asked him, drawing away from the battle.

"Last night." Tom explained. "I was training with him against some lesser trainers and he suddenly just evolved. Like that he turned into a huge bubble and when it popped there stood Wartortle."

"Anyway. I should send out my next Pokémon." Joe announced, suddenly remembering the battle.

"Yes. I guess you should." Tom agreed. Joe pulled out one of his pokéballs and readied it again. He threw it up into the air and it dropped onto the floor in front of him. As it did so it released the usual recognisable light and out popped the large, jolly Ivysaur. Pitt looked Wartortle up, then down. Wartortle did the same to him. They both gave a dissatisfied grunt, clearly not seeing the other as much of a threat.

"Ok then." Joe declared. "Wartortle Vs Ivysaur. Let's see how this goes." He raised a finger towards his opponent's Pokémon. "Pitt, use Razor Leaf" Pitt stomped forwards and lowered his head. As he did so a flurry of sharp leaf blades fired out at Wartortle's body. Wartortle shot out a small clump of bubbles which foamed from his mouth and dropped all the blades that popped them out of the sky. Sadly it didn't stop every leaf from hitting it as one or two managed to evade the bubbles and struck Wartortle in the sides. Wartortle reacted by rushing forwards with its head lowered and bashing its hard skull into Pitt's own forehead. Pitt however had charged forwards as well, striking into Wartortle's cranium at the same time. The two Pokémon bounced back onto the ground. Wartortle fell backwards onto its shell while Pitt skidded backwards onto its stomach. Both Pokémon struggled to get back up but Wartortle was the fastest to do so. It jumped up and charged again. Pitt quickly reacted by shooting out a long vine from under his plant bulb and lashing out at his foe. Wartortle saw it coming and dived aside but a second vine came lashing forwards. Wartortle smacked it away, only to have the other one aim at its leg. It kicked out and was gripped around the ankle by the thick plant matter. The other vine wrapped around his flailing arm and tugged, pulling him to the side. From a couple of seconds Wartortle was left hanging in the air by its leg and arm. Wartortle retracted as quickly as it could, pulling his body back inside its shell and spinning in Pitt's grip. Pitt let go, his vines being cut by the spinning shell edge. Wartortle dropped to the floor and span around on the ground for a couple of seconds before spinning away then coming back for the attack.

"Quick, Pitt!" Joe called out, seeing how badly the fight was beginning to go. "Use your solarbeam attack!" Pitt nodded and raised its back into the air, pointing it at the fast moving, rapidly spinning shell approaching him. Light began to gather at the bulb tip, glowing bright white then turning green. Just as Wartortle was about to strike his legs Pitt released the energy, firing out a large white beam of energy which struck Wartortle square in the stomach. Its body reappeared out of its shell and it yelled in pain, flying backwards as the powerful light energy sent it sailing across the field. With a heavy splash Wartortle crashed into the mud on the opposite side of the field, next to its trainer's feet. It lay where it landed, unconscious and looking up into the sky. Tom sighed. He pulled out its pokéball and withdrew his Wartortle. Joe had already beaten his starter. He still had two Pokémon left however and he was savouring them, knowing they were the actually strongest of his team.

"I do believe that is Two : One, my good fellow." Joe joked in a mock British accent. He was beginning to feel a lot better suddenly. Having this proper battle with his old friend was fun. He realised that they needed to do this more often. Tom grinned at him, he too feeling the energy of the fight.

"I do believe so, also." Tom joked back, making the same exaggerated expression. "I still have two Pokémon left, however so the battle is not over yet." He continued, now using his normal voice. "Now comes my third Pokémon." He readied a third pokéball in his hand. With a swift movement he released the ball but this time instead of hitting the ground, the ball stopped in mid air and out popped a large, brown feathered predatory bird. Tom's Fearow had come out to fight now. It flew above the pitch, twice the size of Pitt. Pitt shrugged back slightly, feeling intimidated by its size.

"Pitt, you can still take it down." Joe encouraged him. Pitt smiled unsurely back at him, appreciating the encouragement but not actually believing what he was saying.

"Fearow, use peck!" Tom commanded it. Fearow squawked then dived down, its sharp beak acting like an arrow head dropping out of the sky towards its target. Faster and faster it dropped until it struck. Its drill struck Pitt square on the nose. Pitt yelped in immense pain and stumbled back, rubbing his nose which had gone read and a lumped bruise had grown out. Fearow struck out again, this time hitting Pitt in the side of the head with his wing.

"Pitt, use poison powder!" Joe told him. Pitt's bulb rustled and out flew a thin cloud of strange purple spores floated out and away. As Fearow came back in for another attack it passed through the cloud, inhaling the spores. Fearow slashed Pitt aside with an Aerial ace, knocking him away to the side. The spores were now taking effect. A small purple bubble floated out of its nose and up into the sky. Another followed suit. Fearow was now looking very sickly. It hadn't lost its strength but it clearly was suffering already.

"Good work, Pitt." Joe congratulated his Pokémon. "You poisoned it." He looked over at his Pokémon and suddenly his smile dropped. Pitt lay in the mud at the side of the pitch not moving. A quiet snore emitted from his direction. Joe sighed. "Oh." He sighed. "Unconscious." He unclipped Pitt's pokéball and withdrew him, allowing him to rest again. The score was 2 : 2 now and Fearow was tough, meaning it was highly possible that it could well easily defeat Joe's other three Pokémon. Ralph was the strongest of his Pokémon but he wasn't very physically defensive. If Fearow got a solid hit in the Ralph wasn't likely to stand a chance. He pulled out his forth pokéball and readied it. "Go Nami" He shouted and released the ball. As it landed out popped Joe's newest Pokémon. The Vaporeon, Nami.

"So that's Vaporeon" Tom said, finally seeing an Eeveelution for the first time. "You weren't lying then." He asked Joe. Joe shook his head.

"No I wasn't." He looked back to the battle. "Nami, use Water Pulse!" Nami released a large thin circle of water which swam through the air towards Fearow which perched itself on the solid ground. It swooped up and glided harmlessly over the ball of water and struck Nami in the side with its wing. Nami was sent rolling to the side into the mud. Fearow quickly turned back around, coming in for another attack. Nami slowly pushed herself back onto her feet and she glared at the giant predatory bird.

"Aurora beam!" Joe commanded. Nami readied a thin beam of ice from her mouth and fired a weird beam of light rings in Fearow's path. It struck Fearow in the chest and it flinched, the cold clenching its muscles. It dropped downwards for several seconds before making a u-turn back upwards and coming around to attack again. Nami readied to attack again when Fearow suddenly dropped out of the air, its wings folded in to its side and its beak pointed straight for its spine. It crashed directly into its back, suddenly unfolding its wings and gripping Nami around the stomach with its huge claws and lifting her of the ground. Nami wailed in surprise and fear and lashed out with her claws. She lashed out at Fearow's side but it paid no attention to her. As they got higher and higher up Fearow stopped in mid air and then suddenly let go, leaving Nami to drop out of the air and back to the ground. Nami screamed and flailed about, desperately trying to stop herself from falling but this was in vain. As Nami reached the ground Joe looked away in pain. There was a quick but sudden thud onto the muddy ground and when Joe looked back Nami's form lay injured and exhausted in the middle of the pitch. Joe exclaimed in annoyance. Fearow had managed to defeat two of his Pokémon in only a few minutes. Now both he and Tom had only two Pokémon left.

"Damn it." He hissed under his breath. He pulled out Nami's pokéball and withdrew her quickly from the battle. "Nice try, Nami." He comforted the pokéball. He then quickly clipped it back onto his belt and pulled out the next ball. "Only two left now." Joe whispered. He readied the ball. "Go, Pippy!" He shouted and released. The pokéball sailed through the air and struck the ground, releasing his small yellow Pikachu into the battlefield. Fearow looked straight at him. It seemed to laugh, clearly not threatened by the tiny yellow mouse that stood before it.

"Fearow, fury attack." Tom shouted.

"Pippy, double team!" Joe instructed. As Fearow lunged in with its sharp beak the tip pierced Pippy's chest… and he suddenly vanished. Fearow looked around surprised to see it was suddenly surrounded by tinny yellow mice, all staring angrily at it. It lashed out at one figure but it vanished in a puff of none-existence. It jabbed at another. That too disappeared like it was never there. Suddenly there was a flash of light and Fearow stumbled backwards, blinded suddenly by the brightness. It rubbed its wings on its eyes and as its sight came back it saw the Pikachu running towards it. It jumped forward, head lowered and struck Fearow in the neck, knocking it back and causing it to choke on its own breath. As Fearow got its breath back it spread its wings out menacingly and cawed, causing the grass around them to ripple with air. It flapped its wings with a sudden strong flap and a huge gust of wind picked Pippy up of the ground and knocked him away. Pippy grabbed a blade of grass to hold him down but Fearow continued its attack, flapping its wings faster and stronger. Finally the winds died down and Pippy dropped back onto his feet, still in one peace. He began charging up static in his cheeks. Fearow cawed again and charged forwards, wings stretched out to attack. As Fearow was about to strike again Pippy released, causing a huge discharge of static which spread across the field. Fearow flinched as the electric energy hit it and caused it to seize up. As the attack wore of it menaced over Pippy again, about to strike it with its wing. Suddenly it squawked in surprise and its face went sickly green. The poisoning that Pitt had given it was now taking full effect. It grabbed at its neck with its two large wings as though it was chocking. Then, simply giving a weak squawk fell backwards onto the floor behind it, completely out of energy. Tom looked absolutely stunned. Joe had beaten his best Pokémon simply by poisoning it.

"…" Tom said nothing. His mouth just hung open. "Wow." He said finally. "You got lucky there." He withdrew Fearow from the battle and pulled out his last pokéball. "Down to my last Pokémon now." He told Joe. Joe nodded, respectfully.

"You've not been easy to fight, though." Joe told him, honestly. "Your Fearow was really tough to fight."

"Thank you." Tom replied. "But trust me. My last Pokémon is my strongest of all of them by far." He readied the pokéball in his hand.

"Your last Pokémon is Abra, isn't it?" Joe asked. "You had an Abra last time we met"

"Not any more my friend." Tom explained to him. "Want my advice. Don't get hit!" He released the ball which sailed through the air and landed on the muddy floor. As it opened the recognisable yellow of an Abra faded into view. The Pokémon that stood there, however, was _not_ an Abra. This Pokémon was almost twice the size of an Abra. Instead of levitating above the ground it stood on two thin, two-toed legs which supported a large lower body which joined onto a thin upped body. It had a tail, like Abra, but this Pokémon's tail was much longer and a lot thick. Its upper body was an odd shade of brown and it had two stick thin arms protruding from heavy shoulders. It one of its three fingered claw hands it held a metal spoon. It had a long snouted face with two large yellow ears, two small triangular eyes and on its forehead was a small red five pointed star. The new Pokémon stood before Joe and his Pokémon. It looked around the area before it.

"Joe, Ralph, Pippy…" Tom spoke suddenly. "Meet Kadabra!"

Tom's Kadabra stood defiantly before its opponent. It seemed to be looking straight through Pippy as if he wasn't actually there. Pippy Looked up at it, a little unnerved. He glanced back at Joe who tried to look encouraging for him. "You can do this." Joe whispered. Pippy smiled and turned back around, flexing ready to fight. Kadabra suddenly looked straight at him. Its eyes pierced his soul and left it open and cold. Pippy shivered as they gazes caught. He shook his head awake and charged his body static into his cheeks. He then released it into the air and a huge bolt of electricity dropped out of the sky towards Tom's Kadabra. As the bolt was about to hit it, however, Kadabra raised the hand gripping the metal spoon towards the sky and the air around it seemed to sparkle and fuzz. The bolt fell out of the sky, struck the spoon tip and shattered into nothingness. The static that made up the attack sparked and spread all around Kadabra, creating a visible yellow yet colourless sphere that touched the ground at Kadabra's feet. As the electricity finally died away Kadabra lowered its spoon and grunted, defiantly. Pippy just stared in complete astonishment. Joe too was absolutely stunned. He had never seen anything reflect an attack like that.

"Protect." Rocky noted as he and winter watched the battle continue to unfurl. "Joe's going to need to watch out for that."

"Protect can't be used twice in a row, however." Winter added, hopefully. "As long as he takes note of that he can find a way to defeat it."

"Ok, that's a problem." Joe deducted, quietly. "Pippy, try attacking again!" Pippy nodded and readied its static again. As he was about to release, Kadabra raised its spoon again, this time pointing it forwards in front of it and aimed at Pippy. A small flash appeared from its right eye and its spoon began to glow with an ominous grey light. Pippy was about to release its attack when suddenly the static in its body died away and the tinniest of sparks floated out from its cheeks. It looked at the tiny particle of static floating by its face even more surprised than before. For some reason it couldn't perform its attack. Somehow Kadabra was stopping him using any electric attacks. He had been disabled. He looked back at Joe, not sure what to do now. Joe wasn't sure either. Kadabra was already proving to be tricky.

"Try quick attack" Joe instructed him. Pippy dashed forward, leaving a blurred image of himself trailing behind him. As he was about to strike Kadabra in the chest Kadabra suddenly blurred and disappeared into nothingness as the mass that made him seemed to be sucked into the tiniest of holes, leaving nothing where it stood. Pippy sailed through the air that Kadabra used to be standing at, wailing in surprise and crashed into the wet muddy ground. He finally skidded to a stop by the edge of the field, mud rising up into the air in his wake. He lay flat on the ground, his eyes shut closed, mud covering his entire face, belly and legs. He slowly pushed himself back onto his feet, mud dripping of his now brown fur. He glanced behind him and saw that Kadabra had just reappeared behind it. Currently it had its back to him. Now was his chance. Pippy quickly got back up and silently leapt forwards, striking Kadabra in the back in between its tail and upper body. Kadabra suddenly lurched forwards as Pippy knocked it over. They both landed face first in the mud. When they finally pushed themselves up Pippy jumped backwards and tried to slam it. Kadabra however set up another protect field and Pippy hit that instead. He thudded into the invisible wall and slid down it. Kadabra stood back up and raised its spoon again pointed towards Pippy. Out of the tip of the spoon an odd psychic beam shot out, growing in size and density. The beam projected out towards Pippy and hit him on the forehead. At first he didn't seem to react… then suddenly he was flung backwards by the sudden psychic force of the beam. He rolled backwards for a couple of seconds before finally skidding on the dirty ground on all fours. He grunted in pain and glared back up at Kadabra who was now already looming over him to attack again.

"Quickly, Pippy." Joe encouraged, desperately. "Fight back!" Pippy Tried to fight back. He fired several smaller bolts of electricity at Kadabra but the once it didn't deflect seemed to do very little back to it. Finally, When Pippy had little to no energy left to attack with, Kadabra made the final attack. It clenched its arms to its chest and with one strong movement flung them outwards, leaving it holding its arms out wide. As it did so the air around it turned light pink and rippled with a strange psychic aura. This weird field moved rapidly towards the exhausted Pikachu. Pippy saw it coming and tried to move but the fight had left him too exhausted to move.

"Look out!" Joe shouted but it was too late. The field had already passed over Pippy. As the odd pink light passed over him it faded away into nothing. Pippy was left standing weakly on all fours in the middle of the field. After a few seconds his legs gave way and his small, frail body collapsed in an exhausted pile to the sodden ground. Kadabra returned to its relaxed stance, its arms dropping to its side. Tom raised a fist to the air. The fight was still winnable for both parties. Joe gripped the side of his head with his grubby clawed hands. He pulled the hair on the side of his head, releasing the built up stress. Somehow this fight had turned table just like that. He had started with an advantage, now they were down to one vs. one. He clenched a fist and tapped his cheek, trying to think up a way to win this fight. Fe turned to Ralph, his last Pokémon. Ralph looked back uncertain. They both knew that if Kadabra got a psychic attack in then Ralph wouldn't survive. Joe however trusted his friend. He knew that even if Ralph didn't win the fight he would at least bring the opponent down with him. Joe nodded to his friend. Ralph nodded in return.

"You're last." Joe told him, simply. "Are you up for this?" He asked. Ralph looked at him unsure for several seconds. Then he gave a confident, determined nod. Joe smiled. "Then let's do this." He held out an arm, his hand cupped to grip Ralph's returning Wing. Ralph held out his wing and curled it over Joe's arm, imitating shaking hands with him. They both gave one strong shake and released their grip. They then turned back around and Ralph took his place on the battlefield. Tom's Kadabra had teleported back to its side of the field and the two Pokémon stood opposite. Crobat Vs Kadabra. Poison and flying Vs Psychic. Both stood anticipating the others move. Tom was again the first to make the first move.

"Kadabra!" He roared. "Psybeam!" Kadabra raised its spoon again and the spiral like beam of pink light shot out of the tip towards Ralph. Joe was anticipating this, however.

"Ralph, Fly high!" He commanded. Ralph gave one huge flap of his large wings and shot spiralling upwards, narrowly avoiding the psybeam by the tip of his tiny feet. He rose higher and higher up into the air, higher than the tree line till he finally stopped, a dot of purple in the sky above Joe and his friends. He then shot back downwards, spiralling like a plummeting comet and growing ever faster. Kadabra raised its spoon to the sky as Ralph began to get closer. Joe spotted the warning straight away. "Cut away!"He cried in warning. Ralph glanced at him waving his hands and noticed Kadabra's raised arm. In the light of the late midday sun he faintly saw the shimmering of an invisible barrier in front of it. Quickly he turned using his back wings and just as he was about to strike he swung around and just evaded the field. He flew in a full circle around Kadabra before shooting back up into the air and stopping several feet above the ground and looking down at the field. From above he could see the real damage their fighting had done. It looked like a mire down there. What was once a field of grass where Pokémon would live was now a bathtub of dirt and muck and muddy water. Kadabra lowered its arm again, bringing its shield down with it. Now was his chance. Ralph folded in his wings and rocketed towards the psi Pokémon, his body folded in and streamlined. Kadabra wasn't done yet, however. It raised its hand again but this time instead of creating a field it fired another psybeam at the oncoming bat creature. Ralph saw it coming and spun aside, the beam just missing his side. Finally he reached his target. He gained speed, dropped and smacked straight into the stomach of the opposing Kadabra. Kadabra was knocked completely over into a pile of yellow and brown. Ralph was hardly fazed by his attack and simply swung upwards again with a heavy thud of his front wings. He shot straight upwards and suddenly stopped, unfolding his wings to catch the wind. After a few more seconds he dropped back down, spinning around to face the direction he fell. He Speed through the air at lightning speed, almost invisible in a blur of Purple light. Kadabra was just getting up again when it was hit again, this time in the back and fell flat on its face. Ralph passed overhead and finally slowed down, stopping not 5 feet away from Kadabra.

"Nice tactic." Tom told Joe. Joe smiled cheekily at him.

"I try." He joked. Tom smiled back with the same air of cheekiness.

"Don't be so sure of yourself." He warned him. "I'm only just getting started."

"Really?" Joe asked him, mockingly. He looked around the pitch before them. "Took you a while to get that far, didn't it." Tom chuckled. He raised a pointed arm out onto the battle.

"Kadabra!" He shouted. Kadabra shot up and stared at him, emotionlessly. "Recover" Tom instructed. Kadabra held its arms to its chest and its body began to emit a weak white light. It wasn't the same type of light that appeared in evolution because Kadabra was still visible in its shadow but it was still relatively bright. The light pulsed like a heartbeat and Kadabra seemed to be getting quickly stronger. After a couple of seconds of this flashing the light faded and Kadabra released its arms to its side again. It looked just as health as it did when it was first released into the fight. It went into its ready to fight stance, holding its arms out to attack, one more pulled back then the other. Ralph glared at it, annoyed. The damn thing was mocking him now, healing itself to add an advantage. Joe didn't seem too fazed by this action. He simply returned to focusing on the fight.

"Ralph, concentrate." He snapped but not harshly. "Use air cutter!" Ralph heard him and pulled his wings back and brought them in, releasing a huge gust of sharp, slicing wind that battered Kadabra back and forth. It hardly seemed to be bothered by this, however as Kadabra simply shrugged the attack of like swatting away a fly. Now it was Kadabra's turn to attack. It pulled its arms back and then thrust them forwards and out in front of it. As it did so a large wave of psychic energy burst from its chest and glided slowly towards the levitating Crobat. Ralph shot back a bit but the field kept moving, growing ever slowly larger. He tried to fly over the top but as he did so the tips of the energy field grassed his wings and sent a sharp painful spike of psychic energy through his body. His wings crumpled uncontrollable and he dropped uncontrollably into the muddy ground. A wave of muddy water rose up in his wake and sloshed over the field. The light wake of water washed over Kadabra's toes. It looked down and kicked a foot, trying to dry it. Ralph glanced up out of the mud, a painful moan emitting from his clenched teeth. Joe winced in synchronisation with his friend.

"Ouch!" Winter and Rocky winced together. Ralph swept the mud of his wings and back and calmly, unimportantly got back onto its feet, then took off into the air again.

"It's ok, Ralph." Joe encouraged him. "You can still do this." Joe tried smiling for his friend but it was already clear that Ralph had had enough. He snarled, menacingly at Kadabra who hardly seemed to notice him. Suddenly, disobeying his trainer, he shot forwards, wings folded inwards. Kadabra simply stood still, ready for his attack. As Ralph got closer he suddenly unfolded his wings to strike. Just as he was about to strike Kadabra raised its spoon in front again and… "THUD!" Ralph smacked, face first into the invisible barrier that Kadabra had quickly set up. He slowly slid down the wall, a small trail of pinkish saliva following after him. He crumpled to the floor, shaken and aching in his head. Kadabra kicked a small clump of mud onto his head in disrespect. Ralph puffed the mud out of his eyes and began to get back up again. Suddenly he was hit again by a beam of psychic light in the back and he fell forwards, hitting the mud again. Kadabra stepped forwards and stood on his back. Ralph couldn't move. Kadabra was surprisingly heavy considering it could levitate. Joe was beginning to get worried now.

"Come on Ralph!" He shouted in an attempt to be encouraging. "Finish this fight!" Ralph looked at him, his vision turning sideways from where he lay on the ground. He had really had enough by now. He pushed on his wing joints, slowly lifting himself up. Kadabra found itself being lifted up into the air by the large purple bat. It stepped of suddenly, unsure what was happening. Suddenly Ralph shot into the air and raised its wings. Joe and Tom gasped in surprised. Winter and Rocky watched on in amazement. Kadabra looked into his now steaming red eyes and saw the anger building up behind them. Ralph brought his wings back down in a sharp chopping motion and… nothing. At first it seemed that he hadn't hit Kadabra at all. Then after a couple of seconds the white outlines of a cut faded into the air before Kadabra's chest, creating a large, white X. Kadabra dropped to its knees and sat there, unconscious before finally tilting forwards and landing with its face in the mud. Joe and Tom said nothing for several seconds. Then finally Tom's brain finished analysing what it had seen.

"NOOO!" He screamed, incredibly disappointed. "That was so close!" He looked at his old friend, for a second not looking as kind as he had done. "How on earth did you win that?" He demanded. Joe wasn't listening to him, however. He was walking slowly, cautiously towards Ralph who just floated in front of Kadabra's unconscious bulk, Flapping very slowly, not moving at all.

"Ralph?" Joe asked unsurely, cautiously. "Ralph? Are you ok?" Ralph didn't reply. He hardly seemed to notice him. Joe reached out and placed a calm hand on Ralph's shoulder. Suddenly, viciously, Ralph spun around and nearly struck him with his other wing. His eyes were burning a deep red with hatred. They glared at Joe, hardly seeing him for several seconds. Joe jumped back, raising his arms in automatic defence. He tried to smile disarmingly with Ralph's wing tip sticking into the ridge of his neck it was no easy task. "Aah!" He cried in surprise. "Ralph? It's me!" He cried, slightly afraid. Suddenly Ralph seemed to relax. The fury in his eyes began to fade away, turning back to the usual night time yellow they had been before. He noticed that his wing was striking Joe and he quickly removed it, looking sheepish about nearly hurting his trainer. Joe smiled, kindly at him, seeing his embraced expression. "It's ok." Joe told him. "You won." He patted his shoulder. "We won."

It had been an interesting battle. Tom had calmed down a bit now and had shaken hands with Joe, congratulating him on his win. Joe patted his friend on the shoulder and gave him a cheeky disarming smile.

"That was a great battle." He chuckled. Tom smiled back in an almost fake manor.

"I nearly beat you, though, even with one less Pokémon." He raised a fist to Joe and he returned with his own, bumping them together. "Sorry II can't stay longer. Professor Oak wanted me to do something for him over by Lavender town. Should probably get to that new. I'll get you next time, though." He stepping away and did a pretend shooting duel wield handguns at Joe. "And that is a promise." Then, as casually as he had arrived, he left, this time no Pokémon following after him as all four of his team were unconscious.

"Great battling." Winter told Joe and Ralph as she and Rocky finished backing away again. "He nearly had you there."

"Yeah." Joe agreed. "But I resolved it well enough."

"We should be making our way to Celadon City now." Rocky told them. "It's getting dark again and the cities only a few miles away. We should aim to arrive there by sun down." Joe and Winter nodded simply.

"Ok, I think we can manage that."

The group continued their venture onwards, towards the next city on the map, Celadon. As the sun began to drop a beautiful blue green shading followed after it, highlighting the horizon with the Kanto sunset. As the group walked in the falling darkness a shadow followed after them. It snuck through the land grass like a snake, weaving its way towards its prey. It kept its distance from them but all the time kept its night black eyes focused on the trainer with the bat Pokémon. Beside it another set of eyes appeared. These eyes were yellow and triangular shaped. The two pairs of eyes watched after the travelling figures as they walked on again towards their set destination.

"I do believe he is the one we are after." The first figure, a human, said. The second figure, a Pokémon, grunted in a shrill voiced response. "The master will be pleased."


	19. Chapter 19: Gliding Thunder

Dawn the next day…

Waking up from a deep sleep Joe looked around. It took his a few seconds to remember that he was lying on soft white bed in a cheap room on the second floor of a cheap hotel in Celadon city. He had been so exhausted from the fight he had had the previous night that he hardly remembered falling asleep. In fact he hardly remembered entering the building. He struggled to remember even entering the city. He put his memory loss down to exhaustion and slid his legs over the side of the bed, trying not to wake the rest of the group. Ralph lay rolled up in a blanked by the foot of his bed, snoring soundly. Clearly he wasn't very comfortable hanging from the bedposts and to be honest Joe couldn't complain about that. He'd hardly had an easy sleep either. He saw that both Winter and Rocky were still asleep on their beds on the other side of the room. Winter had her leg sticking out from under the duvet and Rocky appeared to be sleeping upside-down (How he got into that position they will never know). He glanced out of the room window and saw that the sun was only just rising. He glanced at his poketch quickly. The time was quarter to eight.

"Christ." He thought. "Almost eight already." He looked at the rest of the group who were sleeping soundly. He knew he wouldn't get back to sleep so he decided to go out and see if he could find something to do. Celadon had a large department store near the fountain at the centre. "That might be worth my time to visit." He decided. "I might find something worth buying and at the very least it will give me something to do." As he pulled his jacket back on he realised that he should leave his friends a message explaining where he was at least. He looked around and quickly grabbed a slab of note paper and blue ball point pen that the hotel had lying by the room phone. He jotted down the note quickly and pulled on his right jacket sleeve. He heard a quiet rip as he pulled it on. He stopped, looking down at the under his arm. The joint between his sleeve and the jacket had a large rip where the stitching had worn away. "Damn." Joe whispered, annoyed. "How am I going to fix that?" He gripped the rip with his hand and tried to push it back together. This made it worse as the rip extended and left the entire sleeve hanging on a thread. Joe slid his jacket of and looked at it. The sleeve dropped to the floor and tapped the side of Ralph's head. Joe knelt over and picked up the limp slip of clothing. He sighed. "Well that's just great." He quickly slid his jacket of and threw it in the room bin. He then placed the note on the door and hurried out of the room closing it quietly behind him.

Half an hour later Winter awoke from her deep sleep. She got up, went to the bathroom and cleaned up her hair. As she exited she noticed that Joe was not in his bed, nor was he in the room. As she looked around she also noticed that someone else was missing. Ralph had vanished too, leaving his blanket crumpled up on the floor and the window wide open. She turned around and went for the door, immediately stopping in her tracks. She noticed a small pad of lined paper stuck to the front of it. As she stepped closer she pulled it off and read the words.

_Gone into town. _

_Be back in about an hour. _

_Sorry about the mess._

_Joe_

"Wonderful" she sighed.

Joe finally managed to find his way around the town and reached the fountain centre. Before his stood a huge light purple building with row upon row of massive windows jutting out from the left and right side of the front, as well as the centre. To the left and right, in between there sows were two large automatic glass doors. The building must have been at least 6 floors high, including the roof terrace. Joe looked up at the top which glistened in the rising sun light and gulped, imagining how far it would be to fall from that high. He quickly walked through the large glass doors and into the building. The inside was enormous. The walls were a darkish blue and the floor was covered in a light yellow plastic. The first floor itself simply had a counter. At the counter stood two assistance that were helping out people who had complaints or were struggling to find something or even someone. At the far end of the room was a flight of steps and a single large elevator. On a sign next the elevator read each floor and what was on it. Joe looked at the information that was written down on it.

'1F: Entrance, Assistance, Complains and Lost and found. 2F: Medicines and TM's. 3F: Clothing and Internet Café. 4F: Stones, dolls and Miscellaneous. F5: Battle enhancers. F6: Roof Terrace.'

"Clothing is probably the best place to start." He thought to himself, remembering his ripped jacket. "Might be able to replace it." He pushed the button and a few seconds of whirring later the metal doors slid open. He was quickly pushed back by a torrent of escaping shoppers, all crushed together and trying to push their way out. Joe jumped to the side and stood against the wall, out the way of the stampeding people. As the last person the door slowly slid shut again with a final 'Ding!' Joe panted and moved away, whispering "I'll take the stares!" He quickly shimmied across the room and took the red stairs two by two. As he reached the third floor he jumped off the last step and stood to the side of a large white room. The room was split in two. On one side were the clothing isles and changing rooms; to the other side was a small collection of computers and a few stands with sales people at them. He quickly scurried over to the men's clothes and an isle titled 'Hoodies and Jackets'. He slid in and looked through the multiple choices of different colour and style jackets. He found one he liked in his size; a long sleeved blue and white thin jacket made of a strong thick material with two large pockets on the front and a zip going down the centre, as well as a pointed up neck collar. It also had a detachable thin blue hood on the neck which was large enough to enshroud his entire face. The white was mainly taking up the in between part with the zip and the lower part, bellow the jacket.

"Perfect." He smiled to himself. Quickly he hurried over to the changing rooms to try it on. He took a plastic number sign from the lady standing at the entrance and entered one of the stalls. When he came back out he was wearing the jacket which was a perfect fit. He checked it to make sure it fitted and smiled to himself.

"That will be $2,800, thank you." The lady at the counter told him as he passed her the jacket. He paid and slid it on straight away, removing all the tags. He stood there, admiring his new clothing for several seconds. He was about to head back towards the stairs and leave when he noticed something large and purple watching him from the side. He glanced at it. Ralph was floating against the wall near the café, trying not to laugh at Joe's fashion since.

"When did you get here?" Joe asked him, looking unpleased by his laughter. He walked over to his Pokémon who was smiling at him in an almost cheeky way. "And how did you find me here. Ralph sniffed. It wasn't tough for a Pokémon like Ralph, who relied on both his hearing and smell to find his way around a cave, to sniff out prey or even a person from over long distances. Joe laughed, taking a hint. "What are you doing here, anyway?" he asked. Ralph glanced down at the floor below him then back at Joe. Joe looked down to see his pokéball belt lying in a pile at his own feet, all five pokéballs still attached. Quickly he knelt down and grabbed it and embarrassedly slipped it on around his waist. "Forgot about that." He whispered embarrassed. Ralph laughed at him. Joe hushed him to shut up. He sighed. "Well you're here now." He decided. "We may as well do something" He looked around at the stalls near the café. One of the stalls was teaching unique moves to Pokémon. Joe glanced at it. "What about that." He asked, pointing at the stand. Ralph followed his gaze then returned an unsure look. "Well we may as well go and ask about it." Joe told him, confidently. "Come on." They walked over to the counter. The young lady working there saw them walking closer and smiled, friendly.

"Good morning." She said, sweetly. Joe and Ralph Smiled back in return. "How can I help you two?" She asked them. Joe looked at a small sign by the left side of the stall.

"You're offering to teach Pokémon moves?" Joe asked her. The Stall lady nodded.

"That is right, sir, but these are not ordinary moves that you learn through Technical Machine's." She told him, seeming a little excited. "These are rare and unique moves that can only be taught by us to certain Pokémon."

"What moves are there on sale?" Joe asked. The lady responded by turning the sign on her right around and handing it to Joe. On the thin piece of cardboard was a list of all the moves that she could teach. He started reading down the list.

'Mega Punch, Mega Kick, Seismic Toss, Rock Slide, Mimic, Thunder Wave, Substitute, Counter, Metronome…' He stopped, looking back at the previous move title.

"Substitute" Joe though, curious. "That sounds interesting" "What is this move here?" He asked, turning the sign back around and pointing at the move he was interested in. The stall lady took a second to read then smiled.

"A good choice, sir." She told him. "Substitute is where the user Pokémon uses a quarter of its own health to create a decoy that will take any incoming damage from an attack." She explained. "You have to be careful though. Because it uses your Pokémon's health you have to make sure it's healthy enough to perform the move and stay unfainted, but also the substitute only has as much HP as was used on it, so for example if the user Pokémon had 100 health Points, the substitute would only have 25 Health Points." Joe nodded understanding. "It's a tricky move to master in tactics but it comes in very helpful for psychic type Pokémon. Do you have any psychic types on your team?" She asked. Joe sadly shook his head. He didn't have any Pokémon on him that fell into the category of psychic types. Tom did but he was most likely far away from Celadon by now.

"I don't" He told her, a little sad. The lady still smiled at him.

"I can still teach it to one of your other Pokémon." She explained hurriedly. Joe looked up at her.

"Really?" He asked, excited himself now.

"Yes." She told him. "If you have a Sandshrew, Clefairy, Jigglypuff, Pikachu, Meowth, Haunter or Eevee I can teach it to them for free now." She explained.

"I have a Pikachu." Joe told her, unclipping Pippy's pokéball and releasing the small, yellow Pokémon. Pippy stood unsure on the counter top looking up at the young woman.

"That's fine." She told him. "So you want me to teach your Pikachu substitute?" She asked him. Joe nodded. "Are you sure about this?" She asked again. Joe nodded again.

"Yes I would like you to teach him Substitute." He told her. The lady nodded and pulled out a small device, similar to the one that Gordon in Pewter city had used to teach Ralph Steel Wing. The only difference in this case was instead of having a slot for the TM disk it had a huge memory drive which sat on top of the device like a huge bruise. The lady pulled out a small set of metal headphones and placed them carefully on Pippy's head. Pippy looked up at them and shuddered when the metal touched his ears and covered the top of his head. He looked at Joe and Ralph who stood, not alarmed in front of him. He looked unsurely at them and Joe smiled back, comfortingly.

"It's nothing to worry about, Pippy." He promised his Pokémon. "This won't hurt." As he said so the stall lady turned the machine on and a low hum came out from it. She seemed to be tapping in instructions into the machine. Then suddenly she pressed a large green button and the machine sprang into life, buzzing loudly and shaking as if it was in an earthquake. Pippy suddenly clenched his body and shut his eyes closed. The information was being sent straight to his brain, showing him the technique needed to make the move work. For few seconds he sat there, shaking slightly as the information flooded into his head. Then finally the machine switched of and the buzzing and shaking stopped. Pippy opened his eyes again. He suddenly felt full of life. The lady reached to him and pulled the metal headphones of his head and placed them back under the stall, along with the machine she had used.

"There we go." She announced, proudly. "Your Pokémon has now learned the move Substitute." Joe petted his Pikachu's head, kindly and Pippy nuzzled his sleeve. "Go ahead and try it." The lady told him. Joe looked up at her, a little surprised.

"So I can just tell my Pokémon to use a battle move in here? In a public place?" He asked. The lady nodded.

"Don't worry. Management know that this area may need Pokémon to try out new moves so they gave us permission to make this area a battle ok area."

"Us?" Joe asked, suspicious.

"Me and my Pokémon." She explained. She turned around as if she was about to show him someone but she suddenly stopped and looked around, seeing no one was there. "Where's he gone now?" She muttered, kneeling down and looking around underneath the stall table. "I told him not to go wandering of, yet that is precisely what he did." She muttered audibly to herself. As she looked about for her missing Pokémon Joe felt something tugging slightly on the back of his bag. He turned around. Nothing was there. He slid one side of his bag of and found a small, white cat Pokémon hanging of it, one hand reaching inside. On its forehead was a strange golden coin that sat dead in the centre.

"Hey!" He exclaimed trying to shake the Pokémon of his bag. The Pokémon however was refusing to let go. It pulled out a shining red apple from Joe's back and was about to take a bite. Pippy looked from the apple to the Pokémon and growled angry. He shot a small jolt of electricity out which hit the Pokémon in the side just as it was about to take a bite. The Pokémon released its grip on both the apple and the bag. It fell to the floor and landed happily on all four feet. Pippy quickly shot out and snatched the apple in mid air and landed gripping Joe's shoulder with one hand, the apple with the other. The lady looked down at the small white cat which was smiled back up at her.

"Meowth!" she scolded, angry at it." I've told you a thousand times, stealing from customers is bad!" Meowth looked at the floor, sheepish and hurt. The lady sighed, annoyed. She then held out a hand which Meowth grabbed and crawled up like a spider up a web. It sat on her shoulder grinning at the Pikachu with the apple. Pippy took a large bite out of it and kept his eyes focused on the cunning cat. The stall lady smiled at the trainer and his two Pokémon.

"Thank you for the help." Joe told her, turning to leave.

"Come back any time you feel you need to teach your Pokémon a move." She called after him. Her Meowth yapped after them as well, joining in with its master's farewell.

Joe and Ralph walked out into the morning sun. As they stepped through passed the sliding glass doors they saw two newly awakened figures wandering around looking for them. Joe sighed.

"Guess they'd be awake, too." He thought to himself. He raised a hand and waved at his friends. "Winter, Rocky, over here!" He called. The two trainers turned and saw him. They rushed over to them, looking confused, tired and a little annoyed.

"Where have you been?" Rocky asked him "We've been looking all over for you."

"I left a note…" Joe started.

"Yeah, we got it." Winter interrupted sharply. "Did very little to help us find you."

"Well Ralph managed to find me fine." Joe told her.

"Yeah but he's a bat. He gets up earlier then us and he's got a better sense of smell then us." Winter argued. "Besides, he was gone as well by the time we woke up. I assumed he'd gone with you. Where did you go?"

"I've been exploring the department store in town." Joe explained. "My jumper began to fall apart so I got a new one. You like it?" He asked, showing off by flicking the sides out. Winter looked him up and down, not looking too pleased.

"I actually kind of preferred your old one." She said, simple. Rocky nodded in agreement.

"Grey suits you better." He told him. Joe looked deflated.

"Well you're both being honest at least." He said, feeling a little disappointed. He looked away to Ralph who gave a simple expression that read, 'Told you.'

"Were you planning on taking on the city gym today?" Rocky asked him.

"Yeah, if I'm lucky." Joe told him "Sounded like the gym leader's pretty tough."

"We won't know till we get there." Winter told him.

"We're is it anyway?" Joe asked.

"Over there." Rocky told him, turning and pointing at the large gymnasium covered in ivy and other plants growing up the walls.

Inside the Gym was full to the brim of multiple various kinds of plant life. At the centre was a large rectangular field of trimmed grass, surrounded by tall grass at the edges and a row of small trees creating a pathway in between. At the furthest ends of the rectangular field stood two podiums. In the centre of a field sat a woman wearing a silky red dress with long green gown sleeves. Here long black hear was pinned back with a thick red hair band, leaving some of the side to flow over it and down the side of her head. She sat, legs crossed on the grassy floor, her arms joined in her lap and her eyes lightly shut. Joe took a cautious step forwards. It seemed a little unusual to see such a huge amount of flora in one building like this, of course excluding a greenhouse or botanic garden. He took another step forward. As he did so the grass he stood on made a light crunching noise. The woman's eyes flicked open quite suddenly and she looked up, seeing the three trainers approaching. Her legs unfolded and she gracefully rose up onto her feet, standing before the trio, her dress cascading down, just touching the floor as it unfolded from onto of her legs. She never took her eyes of them for a second. Joe stopped, a little freaked out.

"Hello?" He announced, cautiously, taking a careful step forward. "Are you the gym leader of this city?" He asked. The lady smiled, simply.

"That would be me, yes." She responded in a calm, carefree effeminate voice. "Do you wish to challenge me?" She asked in return.

"Yes." Joe told her. "If I'm not interrupting anything." The gym leader's smile grew, revealing her clean pearly teeth.

"Oh don't worry." She told him "I can meditate at another time. I cannot deny a challenge from a trainer after all." He aired her hand and held it outstretched towards Joe. "I am Erika, the Grass type gym leader of Celadon City." Joe took her hand and shook it, politely.

"My name's Joe." Joe told her, a little nervously. "Of Pallet Town" He added, keeping to her style of introduction. It had been a while since he'd taken on a gym leader, before Rock Tunnel in fact. They released their grips on each other. Erika bowed her head in respect.

"It is good to meat you, Joe of Pallet Town." She smiled. "It is always good to introduce yourself to your challenger. Helps keep your spirits set on the fun of battle, not the winning." Joe looked at her, surprised by her wisdom.

"When I was fighting Lieutenant Surge, all he seemed to do was go on about him winning." Joe told her. Erika seemed to laugh at this.

"That sounds like Surge all right." She agreed. "He's always been like that. Guess it comes from being an ex soldier. We always have a laugh about it during our leader meeting."

"I didn't know all you gym leaders met up to have meeting." Winter repeated in actual surprise. Erika smiled at her now.

"Oh yes. We do so every fortnight. Just talk about any battles with challengers we've had, Pokémon we're training, gym assistants we've taken on and the possibility of a replacement."

"I studied for several years with Misty, from Cerulean city." Winter continued. "And she never mentioned to me that all the gym leaders met up."

"I don't imagine she would." Erika told her kindly. "It isn't really anything that the public should find interesting. We are all human too, you know." Joe coughed.

"So shall we get on with our battle now?" He asked, trying not to sound impatient. Erika turned to him.

"All in good time." She told him, simply. "Patients are a virtue that must not be ignored for the sake of getting something done quickly. You'll find this can have a big impact on the way a battle turns in favour. Grass types are all about patience. Pull of a leach seed and a stun spore and eventually your opponent will have no choice but to surrender." Joe smiled to himself. It seemed like she was giving away her strategy already. He'd have to keep this in mind when battling her.

"Alright" He continued, clenching his fists together, ready for a good battle. "But are you ready?" He asked her, razing a quizzical eyebrow and smiling cheekily. Erika looked deep into his eyes. Her gaze penetrated his soul. Joe's smile faded from his face. Erika smiled now, seemingly swapping expressions with him.

"Like I said. How can I refuse a challenger?"

A minute later and Joe stood opposite Erika, Trainer Vs Leader. He had already chosen his team before hand and was just about to send his first Pokémon into battle.

"Ralph, are you ready?" He asked, turning his gaze back towards his purple flying friend. Ralph nodded, encouraged by his spirit. He took position on the field. Erika pulled out a pokéball and held it in her open palm. A few seconds later she tossed it up into the air and the ball burst open, releasing the usual red-white beam of light.

"Go, Tangela!" She shouted as a mass of vines and feet feel out of the air and landed solidly on the grassy floor. Poking out from the centre of the vines were two large white eyes, looking eagerly forwards at the bat Pokémon before it. The vines on its side wriggled and writhed, lashing at the air like great green snakes. Ralph looked at it, seeing only a pile of cut of plant matter with legs. He chuckled to himself. Clearly this battle was going to be easy.

"Ok Ralph, use…" Joe started, but Ralph was already attacking. He shot forwards at the weird growth standing in front of him, wings flat out in the air to strike it in the chest. Tangela didn't move. It just watched its assailant closing in with big white uncaring eyes. Erika however was prepared for this. Ralph was about to lash out and strike Tangela when suddenly a huge plum of vines shot out from its body and reached out, wrapping around Ralphs wings and body and gripping him in a strong lock hold. He struggled and squirmed to get out but found he just couldn't. Tangela's vines were too many. Suddenly a thick cloud of light green, dusty spores began to float out from Tangela's opening and drift towards the struggling Crobat. Ralph saw the cloud getting closer with one open eye and tried to bite his way out. As he did so, however he took in a lungful of spores. His eyes flickered drowsiness. The spores were taking effect. Slowly, calmly he began to stop struggling and he slumped forwards, snoring like a baby. Joe stood in absolute bewilderment. Somehow Erika had beaten his strongest Pokémon before he could even blink. He felt his mouth hanging open. He shook his head to make sure he wasn't imagining it. No, it had actually happened. Tangela released its grip, letting the sleeping Crobat gently collapse to the floor, curled up in its wings. Winter and Rocky too gasped in amazement.

"How did she manage that?" Rocky wondered in amazement. "So quickly. So efficiently." Erika withdrew her Tangela and readied a second pokéball.

"Like I said" Erika reminded them. "Patience is a virtue that must not be ignored." She gripped the new pokéball and readied it to throw. Joe quickly ran out into the field and scooped up the Ralph who was now snoring louder than he had ever heard him snore.

"I guess if there's one thing positive that comes from having a move like that used on you, it's that you are guaranteed to have a good night's sleep if it hits." Joe tried to joke, dragging his friend of the field back beside his friends where he could rest. He then pulled out another pokéball and readied it. He glared at Erika. He had misjudged her already but that was not going to happen again. They both threw their pokéballs together, in synchronisation. Both balls hit the grassy floor and out popped a blue Vaporeon on Joe's side and a blue with red flower Vileplume. Vileplume was the final evolution of the Oddish family, evolved by using a leaf stone on Gloom. The only other exception was using a sun stone on Gloom, which created another Pokémon, unique to Johto. Nami and Vileplume squared off at the centre of the field.

"Ok, Nami." Joe called out to his Pokémon. "Just watch out for it using any spore moves. Evade those and keep using aurora beam and you should be fine." Nami yapped back, understanding his command. She opened her mouth, a weird arctic light glowing from inside and out shot a beam of aurora light. The beam shot forwards and passed straight through the area that Vileplume had been standing. Vileplume however was now standing three feet to the right of it. It shrugged its body and began to shake its huge flowered head wildly back and forth. As it did so a couple of small red petals fell loose and floated up into the air and began to drift back down, scattering around Nami. Nami watched them, bewildered and a little entranced. Joe squinted at the falling plants. Something didn't seem right about them.

"Nami, don't touch them." He called to her, being cautious in his actions. Nami did as she was told and backed away. Unfortunately the back gust she made by stepping back pulled the closest petal towards her and it landed with a gentle tap on her small snout. Nami Screamed in immense pain, the petal burning her very skin with the acidic compound it seemed to be coated in. She jumped back away from the sadistic thing. Another petal scrapped her thigh as she backed away and jumped to the side, the pain taking her by surprise. Another couple of petals tapped on her back and legs and she lay down, trying to avoid them. She rolled aside and out of the cloud of gliding plant matter. As she recovered from the stinging pain in her side and leg she looked back at Vileplume. A sigh of sadness came from her swollen mouth. The petals had been a distraction. Vileplume had used them to buy it time for its real attack. As Nami watched Vileplume finished gathering light in the centre of its flower and knelt forwards, pointing the tip in Nami's direction. A huge green-white beam of light glistened at the tip and suddenly burst out at incredible speed, striking Nami's entire body and engulfing her in its brightness. Joe stood tense and desperately hopeful that Nami would survive. That hope died quite dreadfully as the light faded finally and he saw his Pokémon laying unconscious where she had been standing before. The Solarbeam had been too much for her after all. Winning this fight was going to be almost impossible now. Two of his best Pokémon had been taken out like that. This battle was definitely not going well. Joe withdrew his vaporeon, feeling a lot more like this battle had been a bad idea. Tom had definitely not been lying about her skill as a trainer. But he still had a chance. He could still win if he tried hard enough. He still had one Pokémon… and luckily for him he had just taught him a new move that may come in useful. As Erika withdrew her Vileplume from battle Joe readied his last pokeball and threw it, shouting "Let's do this, Pippy!" as the ball touched the ground it popped open and the little yellow electric mouse jumped out. Erika also released her last Pokémon. As she threw the ball she cried "Go, Victreebel!" out popped a large, yellow skinned fly trapper plant. It seemed to be the evolution of Weepinbell and Bellsprout, except it was a lot bigger and its large ringed mouth was on the top of its body, covered by a large fan shaped leaf on a long stem. It also had two large razor sharp leaves on either side of its fat, bell shaped body.

Pippy and Victreebel squared off, Pippy generating a small field of static and Victreebel whipping its vines back and forth.

"Victreebel, use Vine Whip!" Erika commanded. Victreebel pushed itself forwards on its long vines and when it was close enough it used those same vines to reach out and swipe at Pippy.

"Quickly, dodge it, Pippy!" Joe called. Pippy watched the vine drop out of the air towards it and at the last second he rolled to the left, just avoiding being squashed by Victreebel's powerful attack. As he rolled back onto his feet however the other vine came swooping forwards and struck his front legs, tripping him up and causing him to fall flat on his face. Victreebel retreated its vines and waited for its owner's next command.

"Now Victreebel, use Acid!" Erika commanded, the excitement of the battle flashing in her eyes. Victreebel gulped and the leaf on the top of its fat body lifted up. Its stomach convulsed and small purple bubbles began to appear at the rim of its mouth. As Pippy was getting back up he saw what Victreebel was doing. It looked like it was about to be sick. In fact that was exactly what happened. When Victreebel's body couldn't get any more squished in its mouth expanded, it lowered itself down and a huge pile of slimy, acidic bile shot out, hitting Pippy directly in the face and washing all over his body. Pippy spluttered and squirmed. The acid attacking his fur and body. He shook himself and most of the acid came sliding off. He felt sick. His stomach growled with pain and hunger.

"Hold on, Pippy." Joe called out, trying to be encouraging. "You can do this!" Pippy tensed. He glared at Victreebel, concentrating all his efforts on him. "Let's try that new move. Joe told him "Use Substitute!" He commanded. Pippy did so. He held his small hands to his chest and concentrated his energy inwards. He grunted and pulled something out. He screamed slightly and let go. What he dropped was an almost perfect replication of him... Almost Perfect. It didn't move and it had button eyes and a stitched on smile. From the distance it may look real but close up it looked like it was just a doll. Pippy hid behind it, circling up to protect himself while trying to stay unseen by Victreebel. Victreebel shot forwards and slammed into the substitute, knocking it back lightly. Pippy took his chance to attack and jumped out. Firing a thunderbolt at the giant fly trap plant and hitting it in the bell. Victreebel however didn't even blink. Pippy's attack had hardly hurt it. It quickly got its own back, charging a solarbeam and striking the substitute and dissolving it into nothing, knocking Pippy back at the same time.

"Now finish it with Body Slam!" Erika commanded.

"Fight Back!" Joe shouted. Pippy tried. As Victreebel came crashing forwards Pippy jumped up into the air and flew forwards, head lowered to strike Victreebel in one last ditch attempt. To his surprise Victreebel stopped suddenly and watched him sailing through the air towards him. A small glint of green appeared from underneath its large side leaves. Pippy realised how stupid he had been to jump out at him like he had done. Before he could even react the vine struck out at lightning speed. Time seemed to slow down almost to a halt. The vine lashed up, curled around in the air and uncoiled, lashing Pippy in the back as he sailed by and struck him out of the air. He dropped out of the sky like a fallen missile and crashed painfully to the floor, digging up the grassy turf. He lay there completely motionless until finally Erika withdrew her Pokémon, a large smile appearing on her face.

"Game set and Match, I do believe" she said, cracking her knuckles. Joe looked destroyed. His face was enough to say so. He looked at his unconscious Pikachu lying face in the mud and a deep, pitiful sorrow began to grow in his heart. He sighed, deflating and pulled Pippy's poke-ball back out. As he withdrew him he noticed that something was moving beside him. Ralph was waking up again. He looked sleepy eyed up at his trainer and noticed his sadness. He returned a confused and slightly concerned expression.

"What happened?" Joe read, seeing his face. Anger began to grow now. "I'll tell you what happened! We Lost!"

Joe walked outside, feeling very disappointed, not with his team but with himself. He should have known better about taking on the gym so early. He wasn't ready for a battle like that yet. His Pokémon weren't strong enough to fight all her Pokémon and he hadn't chosen his team well. If he had used Cinders in the battle he would have stood a better chance, even with Ralph fainted. He kicked a stone which scattered down the road and bounced of a lamp post.

"Damn it all" he cursed. Erika had been nice about his loss. She hadn't gloated like he imagined she would but she didn't even seem fazed by her victory. Tom had definitely not been lying. Winter walked up to him and patted him on the shoulder. He turned. She smiled, trying to cheer him up.

"Never mind" She told him, kindly. "We weren't ready for that. You can try again tomorrow." Joe just sighed.

"What's the point?" He asked. "You saw the battle. You saw how it was going. She thrashed us and we didn't even hurt any of her Pokémon." He scratched the back of his head. "I'm not ready to try again. I don't know what I was thinking trying to take her on so early." Winter shrugged.

"At least you tried." She told him. "You could've just given up but you don't. You keep trying. It's almost admirable." Winter smiled and Joe almost smiled back. They heard someone walking up behind them. They turned and saw Rocky and Erika walking out of the gym and towards them. Rocky shrugged at them.  
"Remember when you battled me?" Rocky asked, trying to cheer him up. "You lost the first time but still you kept going. When you came back Ralph new that steel wing move which helped you win the second time."

"You didn't give up then" Winter joined in. "So don't give up now." Erika looked at the three friends.

"It's nice to see you three helping each other out and keeping your friend inspired." She told them, giving them a kindly smile for the first time. "I tell you what. Come back tomorrow and I'll give you another battle. If you win that then I'll give you the badge." Joe looked at her. He smiled gratefully.

"Thank you." He smiled back. Erika nodded at him. Suddenly she stopped, looking off into the distance, an expression of anger and annoyance appearing on her face. She sighed, annoyed and fed up.

"Oh no." She snapped under her breath. "They're back again" Joe and Winter turned around, surprised by her sudden anger. They tried to spot what she was talking about. Erika suddenly rushed past them, heading towards the city gate.

"What's happening?" Winter asked, expecting the others to know.

"No idea" Joe told her, honestly.

"We'd better follow." Rocky told them. Without another word all four of them dashed off after the gym leader. The trainers ran on and on in the direction that Erika had gone. They passed through several alley ways, by the Pokémon centre and finally stopped at the edge of the city. When they arrived they found Erika standing tensed before at least 10 men, each wearing a black jump suit and cap with red R's.

"Team Rocket's back!" Winter announced, readying a poke-ball. Rocky did the same.

"Knew they'd be back at some point." Rocky added. Joe didn't respond. He was just watching the confrontation. In the middle of the squad of Rocket grunts stood a tall Asian man in white suit and hat with the same red R printed on top. Joe growled and clenched his fists. Ralph placed a concerned wing on his shoulder, trying to regain his attention. Joe never took his eyes of the man, anger and grief burning in his soul.

"Cheng!" He muttered, a snarl escaping his lips. The man was standing before Erika. He seemed to be talking to her.

"Let's just all calm down." He said in his usual strong yet gentle wormy voice. He sounded a little less confident in his words however then when they'd last met. "No one here needs to get hurt. All me and my men want is to gain access to your Pokémon centre. We have Pokémon we need heeled, too." He continued. Erika shook her head, seeming to laugh at the idea.

"You must think I'm dumb." She told him, not relaxing for a second. "How can I know that's what you really want? How do I know you won't just take the nurses and trainers inside hostage like you did in Viridian a couple of weeks ago?" Command Cheng sighed and shrugged.

"Ok so we might do that too." He admitted. It sounded like he was mocking her. Joe growled. Commander Cheng looked past Erika, seeing the three young trainers standing a few metres away. His expression dropped upon seeing Joe again. "You." He said, sounding neither happy nor annoyed. Joe glared back, holding his ground. "I didn't expect to see you three again so soon." He admitted, sounding actually a little sad.

"Wait... You know them?" Erika asked suddenly, looking from Cheng to Joe then back to Cheng. Joe nodded, dramatically.

"Commander Cheng of Team Rocket." Joe introduced, mocking the commander as he watched. "To be honest I never wanted to see you again either. Not after what you and your 'Friends' did!" He stared the commander down, watching him keenly. The commander stepped forward.

"About your Pokémon." He continued. A tear fell down Joe's cheek. Commander Cheng stepped forwards and Joe's eyes narrowed. "I am not responsible for your Beedrill's death." He told him. "None of us are. Someone else shot him. Wharton's shot missed!" He stepped back slightly. Joe thought for a second that he might actually be telling the truth. His expression was honest, as was his voice. No. He was lying. He had to be. He was Team Rocket. They were good for little else.

"Even if you speak the truth..." Joe spoke, trying his best to sound strong. "That doesn't put you in the right. You are still the bad guy in this."

"There are no bad guys, kid." Commander Cheng told him. "No good guys. No bad guys. Just people who do good things and people who do bad." Joe shook his head.

"Then you are most definitely the men who do bad things." He told him."Oh and by the way. It was me who foiled your plans at Viridian. Me and Winter." Commander Cheng actually looked surprised.

"That was you two?" Erika asked, shocked. Winter blushed, embarrassed.

"That's why I knew you were trouble when I first saw you." Cheng commented.

"Just get out of her, Commander, before you cause more trouble." Rocky butte in, standing up for his friends. Cheng simply shook his head.

"I'm sorry about your Pokémon, kid..." Cheng began "But your still in my way. If you don't move aside I'm going to have to take you out as well. We must reach our goal, for the good of Team Rocket."

"Not if I have anything to say about it." Erika stepped in their way, blocking them off from the city. Cheng's men immediately reached for their belts and raised a poke-ball in their hand. Cheng smiled at the gym leader. Her bravery seemed to amuse him.

"You really are persistent, young Erika" he chuckled. "Did you not learn from the last time? I said I'd be back with more reinforcements and here they are. Just give up and save yourself the trouble. "Erika was not laughing.

"This fight is between you and me, Commander." Erika told him. "No tricks. No back up. 1 Vs 1" Cheng seemed to like this idea.

"Suit yourself" he said, simply. He raised a flat hand and his men lowered their poke-balls. "We'll play it your way. No tricky. No back up. 1 Vs 1" with that he in lipped a single poke-ball from his belt and readied it like was about the throw a grenade. Erika did the same, reaching into her dress and pulling out Victreebel's poke-ball. There was nothing Joe or his friends could do to stop them. The battle began. Erika released Victreebel and Cheng released his Arbok. Victreebel tried to grab Arbok but its vines were not strong enough to hold onto its scaly body. Arbok responded by whipping its tail up and lashing away Victreebel's vines. It then shot forward and bit down on Victreebel's large side leaf. It wrapped its long tail around its body and began strangling the poor Pokémon.

"Victreebel!" Erika cried out. Her Pokémon couldn't fight back it Arbok's grip. Cheng grinned. This was going to be easier than he had thought.

"We need to do something!" Winter whispered, hurriedly. "Any plans?" She asked. The three trainers looked at one another. None of them had any idea what to do.

"How about we just fight them off." Rocky suggested. Winter and Joe didn't shun him. They didn't have a better idea. At that very second Erika's Victreebel collapsed to the ground, crushed by Arbok's writhing tail. Erika looked shattered. She had failed to protect the town and Cheng had beaten her so easily. She began to feel exactly the way Joe had felt when he lost to her. She backed down, unable to fight them away. Commander Cheng stood before her and her unconscious Victreebel and smiled.

"I warned you." he told her "You should have stayed out of our way." he kicked her in the leg and she crumpled onto her knees before him. "Now you will stand aside." He demanded. Erika looked up into his eyes, anger portrayed on her face. She spat at his feet and smiled, defiantly.

"No." She said simply. "I will not move."

"Neither will we." Joe added. Chengs attention turned to the three trainers who were now standing beside Erika. Winter passed her a hand and helped her back onto her feet. All four of the stood in Team Rockets way, unwilling to move aside for anyone. Cheng nodded once, slightly.

"So that's how it's going to be." he sighed and raised his hand again. This time however it was clenched into a fist. "Deal with them." he told his men. Upon command all nine of Cheng's men threw their poke-balls and a variety of zubat, sandshrew, ekans, koffing, ratatta and even a hypno appeared to fight of the defenders.

"Let's do this gang!" Joe roared like a war cry.

"Just like old times." Rocky laughed. They each withdrew two poke-balls in both hands. One by one they released. Rocky's Crash, Chopper and Mina jumped out to cause some earth shattering damage. Winter sent out Staryu, Stream and River to wash away the criminals and finally Joe sent out Pippy, Pitt, Cinders and Nami to fight them off. Ralph meanwhile took up to sky and readied to dive bomb the opponents. The four trainers took on the 10 grunts.

"All of you take care of the grunts. I'll deal with the Commander." Joe told the others. They nodded and battle commenced.

Around them the battle blurred. Pokémon fought Pokémon in bloody combat. Erika had sent out her Tangela and Vileplume to fight of the intruders and they seemed to be doing a good job with Tangela wrapping up the Pokémon while Vileplume used its petal dance to take them out. Move to Rocky's team and Mina was struggling a little taking out an evasive Koffing but eventually her bonemarang hit and it fell out the air in a puff of disgusting, sickly smog. Crash had swiped out three Raticate in one go with a heavy swing of his tail and was now moving on to taking out the grunts themselves. Chopper meanwhile had used crash's large stony body to reach the zubats flying high above him. He'd scaled his back in seconds, ran up his large head and jumped of his nose, swatting all four zubat out of the sky with his flailing arms as he fell again. As he landed safely on his feet back on the ground the three Pokémon praised each other and gave the other two a respectful head bash. With Winter her battle was going just as smoothly. Staryu had taken out a troublesome Grimer using its rapid spin move to scrub it away. Stream and River set up a smart double team. While river used a smokescreen to blind an attacking group of sandshrew, stream used its water gun to drown them away and KO them. They both then used their hydro pumps to wash away the grunts. Joe's Pokémon were not letting up, defending their trainer to their final breath. Cinders, Nami and Pitt circled him, keeping back the waves of Pokémon sent to stop him by using their claws, vines, kicks, flamethrowers and water guns. Ralph Helped out, picking on the tougher targets and striking them from above. Pippy meanwhile stood with Joe as he stared down Commander Cheng.

"So you still wish to fight." Cheng asked, his Arbok reared beside him.

"I will not stand aside" Joe told him. Pippy yapped in agreement.

"I will not lose this time" Cheng roared. He flung his arm out. Arbok rose up and dived into the ground, digging a large hole as it burrowed its way underground.

"Ok, Pippy." Joe whispered. "Do like you did with Erika except do it before Arbok comes back up." Pippy nodded and grabbed his chest. As he pulled his arms away he pulled out the same weird button eyed doll of himself and dropped it in front of him. He then suddenly split himself into several different moving images which formed a ring around the now appearing hole that Arbok was about to burst out off. "Now hide, Pippy" Joe whispered. Pippy did so, crouching down behind the substitute. Arbok burst from the ground, mud and sod flying up around it. It dropped back down, aiming head first at the substitute. As it attacked it crashed into the ground with a heavy thud. The substitute bounced backwards, taking the attack but amazingly it was still in one piece. Pippy had jumped aside just in time, avoiding taking any damage from Arbok's attack. Arbok wrapped its long tail around Pippy's body, crushing the life out of it. It exclaimed in surprise when the tiny Pikachu suddenly disintegrated in its grip. It had gone for the substitute. A jolt of electricity struck it in the side. It winced and looked around in surprise to see at least twenty small Pikachu's surrounding it. It looked from one to another and then to another, spinning around in the circle like a spinning top. Each was exactly the same as the other. They taunted it as it spun around, trying to find the real Pippy. Another jolt of electricity struck it in the back, knocking it forwards. By this point Arbok had had enough. It lowered its head, uncurled its tail and swung around, swilling away all the images in one great swoop. Pippy saw the attack coming and only just jump over its tail, just scrapping the top with his foot. Arbok saw this and lashed out again, dropping its tail down on top of Pippy. As it raises its tail Pippy squirmed out, injured a little by the surprise attack but he quickly got back into action. Arbok lunged at Pippy, trying to bite it but Pippy was too quick. He dashed to the side, avoiding Arbok's long fangs. Arbok bit at him again and Pippy jumped onto its head. It looked around for a couple of seconds trying to find out where he had gone. Meanwhile Pippy was busy pulling faces at Arbok right above its very nose. Joe found himself laughing. He'd forgotten just how great it was to see his Pokémon taking care of the bad guys. Cheng was much less amused. He gripped his hat in both hands and clenched it to his chest, his face red with anger and steam metaphorically escaping out of his ears.

"For hell's sake, Arbok!" He shouted, furiously. "Finish the job!" Arbok suddenly flicked its head back, causing Pippy, who had been standing on the edge of Arbok's snout, to be sent flying up into the air. He yelled out in surprise and suddenly found himself falling back out of the air towards an open purple maw full of fangs.

"Pippy! No!" Joe shouted in fear for his friend. Ralph heard his cry and looked down. He saw his friend about to be swallowed hole by the foe Pokémon and immediately took action. He swooped down and grabbed the small yellow mouse just as he was about to disappear inside Arbok's large mouth. Arbok snapped its jaw shut and suddenly realised that it had swallowed nothing. It looked up to see the giant bas flying away with the small mouse sitting on its back. Joe whooped in excitement, seeing his Pokémon escape. It was time to finish this fight. With little communication Pippy edged to the side of Ralph's body and looked down at the now small looking giant snake. Ralph tilted slightly to help keep Pippy stable. He readied static in his cheek pouches, took aim and fired a huge bolt of lightning out of the sky. It rippled and crashed out of the air, striking Arbok on the head. There was a huge flash of light and Arbok shook and sizzled where it sat. An ear splitting his like screech emitted from its gaping mouth as the electricity fried it in its skin. After a few seconds its top half fell backwards onto its tail and it laid KO'd in front of its master. Joe, Winter, Rocky, Erika, all the rocket grunts and especially Cheng stood in absolute awe and amazement. Never had any of them seen such a strong tactic and move pulled off by two such Pokémon. A small whimper let out from Chengs open mouth. He looked at Joe who just smiled back.

"Still got it." He whispered to himself. Cheng snarled.

"Next time, boy." He hissed in an evil voice. "Next time!" With that he withdrew his Pokémon and retreated, his men following after him.

"Cowards!" Rocky shouted after them. Joe looked at him. It made him laugh hearing his friends talk like that.

"That…" Winter began, still astonished by what she had witnessed. "Was… AMAZING!" She shouted, hugging Joe quite suddenly. She then backed away, embarrassed. Joe also looked a little awkward. Erika walked up to him, a huge smile on his face.

"You couldn't win against me but you somehow had the strength to take on a rocket commander even I couldn't fight and win." She grinned. "Now that is extra-ordinary." Joe smiled back.

"I think when we battled you I still wasn't confident as a trainer." He admitted. But after that I feel that I'm ready for a rematch." Erika shook her head.

"You are such a trainer you were able to teach your Pokémon to perform a combo like that perfectly with no commands." She began. "A trainer like that is skilled enough to earn a gym badge on its own, let alone beat the gym leader." She explained. Ralph and Pippy landed back next to Joe and the rest of his Pokémon now. They watched him, excited and happy. Joe smiled at them.

"I actually didn't teach them that." Joe admitted. "They kind of just chose to do it." Erika's smile grew larger.

"That's just as amazing." She told him. "Your Pokémon not only believe in you but also themselves. They believe so much that an action like that becomes a reflex between them. Combos are tough to teach. For Pippy and Ralph to just come up with one and it work first try is truly remarkable. If a trainer can inspire his Pokémon like that then he is better than any mid class gym leader." She held out a closed hand. When she opened it Joe saw a glistening, multicoloured badge lying in it. It was multicoloured, like a rainbow. Joe was actually surprised.

"But I lost to you, remember." He reminded her. "I didn't earn the badge."

"You battled against a team of criminals and won, scaring them away from the town for good." Erika explained, dropping the badge into his hand and closing it for him. "You have earned it."

A bit later that day the trio walked out from the Pokémon centre, having just healed their Pokémon. Erika waited for them outside, her own Pokémon now health and ready to wave them off.

"I wish you luck in your travels." She told them as they shook hands.

"Thank you for the challenge" Joe told her. "Even though you beat me." Erika laughed.

"It was a pleasure."

"Take good care of yourself." Winter called to her. Erika nodded.

"I will."

"And watch out for team rocket!" Rocky added.

"I will." Erika shouted back. The trio walked onwards, towards the bicycle route to the west of Celadon city.

"So did you come up with a name for the combo Ralph and Pippy did?" Winter asked Joe. He looked at her, a little confused.

"Did I need to?" He asked.

"Most trainers who have Pokémon that use them do." Rocky told him. "It's so their Pokémon know when to use it if the trainer says it."

"Alright." Joe thought for a second. "How about…" He paused "Gliding Thunder?"


	20. Chapter 20: Snorlax

**Lucky for you guys, it's a Team Ace focused chapter. Hooray!**

"Oh for Pete's sake, Ross!" Ruby shouted, kicking the side of the tent. "You sleep worse than a male Snorlax. Wake up!" She kicked the side of the tent again. Team Ace had set up camp just outside the western walls of Celadon city, the morning of the day Team Rocket attacked. By this point Joe had only just woken up in his hotel. There was a painful grumble from inside the tent.

"I need my sleep, Ruby." Ross's voice came from inside. His head popped out from the entrance flap. "You have us travelling all day. I'm exhausted." Another head popped out from beside him.

"So am I." Frank moaned.

"Oh stop it you two." Ruby complained. "You're both just lazy. You two lie around while I'm busy doing all the work." She grabbed Ross's collar and pulled him out from the tent.

"Ouch." He exclaimed in pain, her grip pinching his neck. She pushed him forwards.

"Now let's get working!" She shouted at him, now pulling Frank out from the tent, much to his annoyance.

"All right. All right!" He exclaimed in pain. "We'll get working, as you say." Ruby got her team hunting rare Pokémon in the nearby trees and foliage. They each carried a large net, ready to trap any they may find. They weren't too hopeful about it, however. Most Pokémon they had come across that was worth capturing had managed to escape their grasp, due to Ross and Frank's sheer stupidity. After a few minutes of searching Ross began to complain.

""Why can't I have a second Pokémon?" He asked in a child like whine. Ruby hushed them.

"You can when you catch one." She told him, simply. Ross continued to whine.

"You have two Pokémon, though." He complained. "And that's excluding Frank. All I have is this lousy Nidoran." He kicked at the small purple spiky rabbit that was walking by his side. It swatted the mud of its face and growled at its master, biting on his foot. Ross exclaimed in surprise, grabbing his sour foot and jumping about on one leg. "You little pest!" He exclaimed. Nidoran male simply laughed at him, grunting something like "Serves you right". Ruby rolled her head. How did she cope with these idiots? She then looked around.

"Where's Frank?" She asked. As if on cue a high pitched scream emitted from somewhere behind them. It was a cry of distress. "Frank!?" Ruby called out, now running towards the direction of the cry. Ross followed after her, pushing his way through the plant life. Ruby ran on and on until she reached a small clearing. In the centre stood frank in his ditto form, his net laying right on top of him. The handle was wedged in between a tree branch and the net itself had trapped him in. Ruby sighed, slapping her palm on her face and feeling very stupid.

"Frank... just how?" She asked, hardly sounding interested and certainly not surprised. Frank gave her puppy eyes.

"It was not my fault." He began. Immediately Ruby stopped him.

"Never mind the excuses. I'm too tired of that." She told him simply and walked over to the net that trapped him. "How did this really happen?" She asked him. Frank shrugged.

"I missed." He said simply. Ruby suddenly snapped.

"You're damn right you missed!" She shouted. Frank shrivelled away from her wrath. "What were you trying to do?" She asked now.

"I was trying to catch a Psyduck, when…" Frank started. Ruby immediately stopped him.

"A Psyduck?" She repeated. "You were outwitted by a Psyduck?!" She shouted. Her palm met with her face again. "You were outwitted by one of the weakest, least useful bird Pokémon in this region." Her hands began motioning around, her brain struggling to comprehend his idiocy. "How do you even manage that?" She asked.

"It wasn't my fault." Frank argued back. "It kept waddling out of the way of my swings!"

"Okay there are two problems with that." Ruby told him. "One: It was a rhetorical question, And Two: That's an awful excuse!" Frank sighed, annoyed and desperate.

"Can you just get me out of here now?" He pleaded. Ruby sighed.

"Give me a second." Ross finally caught up now. He panted and rested for a second, leaning against his knees and taking quick, starved breaths.

"What's happened?" He asked. Ruby just stared at him.

"You took your time." Ruby scolded him. Ross looked a little confused.

"What's wrong?" He asked, dumbly. Ruby sighed.

"Just free frank from his net." She instructed. Ross didn't argue. He gripped the wedged handle and pushed, trying to free it from the tree. After a few seconds there was a snap. The handle had split down the centre from the tip. Ross looked embarrassed at Ruby who was not happy.

"Well done, moron!" She congratulated him, sarcastically. "Great job! Now we only have two nets!"

"Sorry." Ross mumbled, finally removing the broken net from the tree's grasp. Frank stretched his body and stepped out from under the net.

"Finally free." He cheered, raising his 'arms' to the air.

"Hey Frank. Couldn't you have just dug your way out of the net by transforming into a sandshrew?" Ross asked. Frank looked at him for a couple of seconds.

"Oh yeah." He realised. Ruby sighed.

"If you want something done properly, you've got to do it yourself!" She muttered.

Team Ace continued on their way, now carrying two and a half nets with them. Unluckily for the three of them all the wild Pokémon in the area had been scared off by the net fiasco. For one full hour they walked on without seeing one Pokémon. Eventually they decided to take a short rest, seeing as how there were no Pokémon of interest left in this part of the route.

"Might as well call it quits for now." Ross announced. "There's just no worthwhile Pokémon on this route." Frank nodded in agreement. Even Ruby had to admit that they hadn't found any good Pokémon to catch.

"We'll try again later." She told them.

Another hour later and they went back into the brush. They readied their nets and began swiping at the bushes, trying to frighten out Pokémon. This didn't seem to work at first. A couple of ratatta scurried out from a bush near Ross but Ruby told him not to swing at them. They weren't worth wasting time and energy on. A few minutes later and still nothing. Then suddenly they saw something thrashing around in a nearby bush. Whatever it was it was relatively big and was very angry.

"Should I scare it out?" Ross whispered, glancing over to Ruby on the opposite side of him.

"No." Ruby whispered back. "Just move up on it and catch it unaware." Ross gulped. He hated having to this bit. There was always the chance that the Pokémon would see him or fight back and then he'd end up cover with a bunch of cuts and bruises while the Pokémon escaped without even looking back. He crept up slowly behind the shaking bush that the Pokémon was hiding in, readied his net and raised it high. "Now!" Ruby Ordered. Her shout surprised Ross and he swung a few seconds late and hit the bush, rather than the Pokémon. Suddenly there were two loud, simultaneous caws and Ross was knocked back by something incredibly fast. The Pokémon had burst out of the brush at lightning speeds, kicked him in the chest and then run off into another nearby bush, all within the span of a second.

"What on earth was that?" Ross asked as he began to get back onto his feet, bewildered, stunned and pained. "Did you see that?" He asked, looking at the other two members of his team.

"We saw a blur of brown hit you then disappear, if that helps." Frank told him. There were another couple of quieter caws from the bushes and they began to rustle as something ran through them. The two trainers – and Pokémon – followed the movement keenly.

"Quick! After it!" Ruby shouted, running off after the escaping Pokémon. Ross followed reluctantly after her, holding his stomach from the pain, pulling Frank along with him. They quickly found however that whatever it was that was running from them had disappeared. It was so quick that it had lost them completely.

"Where is it?" Ruby asked, spinning around looking for the signs of movement.

"It's got away." Ross exclaimed. "We missed it." He kicked a nearby bush. As he did so he heard two quiet bird chirrups come from within. He stopped still, listening carefully. He could hear it now. It sounded like two Pokémon beginning to have an argument. Suddenly a large, brown, wingless, two headed bird Pokémon burst out of the bush that Ross was standing next to, knocking him back again. Both heads were squawking at the other in a furious argument. They hissed and kicked at themselves, their long beaks pecking at its own small fuzzy blob body and their beady black eyes glaring each other down. It moved back and forth as if it was two Pokémon fighting, but it was just one Pokémon - technically - having an argument with itself. It was trying to back away from the other, only to realise that they were physically attached, which made them even madder. As it thrashed about it trampled several times over Ross as he lay on the ground.

"Doduo." Ruby looked quite pleasantly surprised.

"I must admit I've never seen one have an argument with itself before." Frank added. Ruby looked down at him.

"This is a great opportunity to catch it." Ruby told him, pulling out a spare pokéball from her pocket. "While it's busy fighting itself I can catch it unaware." She readied the ball and threw it sailing through the air. The ball fell down towards Doduo and was about to catch it when one of the two heads lashed out and missed the other head. As it did so its sharp beak hit the ridge of the ball and hit it away to the floor. Ruby watched befuddled. "What?" She asked. "Why did the ball not work?" She asked.

"Because it hit it back." Frank explained simply. "You should throw it properly next time." He told her, mocking. Ruby kicked him away. Ross meanwhile had been struggling to make his way out from in between the wild Doduo's scrabbling feet when something small and light had hit him in the stomach. He looked down in surprise to see it was Ruby's pokéball. He laughed.

"Guess I can catch it now." He shrugged and raised it up, touching Doduo's leg with the tip. As it did so the ball snapped open and sucked the rampaging two headed bird inside. Ross gripped it in both hands and held it to his chest, keeping it shut to the best of his ability. It shook three times then fell still. Ross exclaimed, overjoyed. "I did it!" He exclaimed. "I finally caught a Pokémon." He kissed the pokéball, and then spat in disgust. He got back onto his feet in a flash and held the ball in his hand, showing it to Ruby and Frank. "Look." He grinned at them. "My first caught Pokémon." Ruby and Frank didn't seem as impressed as he was.

"So" Ruby said. "You already had a Pokémon. Besides any dumbass can catch Pokémon." She then pointed at the pokéball. "Oh, and that was my pokéball you used so, technically, it's my Pokémon." Ross looked at her, moving the pokéball behind him so Ruby couldn't grab it.

"No it isn't." He argued. "I found the ball. I used it so I own it. It's mine." Ruby stepped forwards.

"I paid for that ball with my own money." Ruby argued back. "So it stands to reason that the Pokémon caught in it is mine."

"That's dumb." Ross told her, backing away. "That's like saying you put money into the government so you should run it." He argued. And anyway, you've already got two Pokémon. You kept Crabby. I deserve another one, don't I. Aren't we meant to be a team."

"I'm your leader!" Ruby shouted at him.

"I do all the work!" Ross argued back.

"Actually I do more work than him." Frank butted in. "So does that mean I can have the Pokémon." He asked Ruby.

"Oh shut up, Frank." Ross shouted at him. "You're a Pokémon as well. You can't carry around Pokémon." Ruby gave Ross a firm stare.

"Give… me… the pokéball" She demanded, holding out her hand to take it. Ross backed up, nervously.

"No!" He said, trying to sound determined. Ruby walked towards him, slowly. Ross backed up a little.

"Give it!" Ruby snapped, as if she was a mother telling of her child. Ross was pretty much reacting like one.

"No!" He told her again. Ruby finally lashed out and grabbed the ball from Ross's hands. Ross didn't let go for a second. They both tugged at it, the ball passing to and from one another. Frank just watched. He pulled up an imaginary chair, created a pair of 3D glasses and sat down to watch the fighting. It went on for almost a minute until finally Ross grabbed a clump of mud from the ground at his feet and threw it straight in Ruby's face. While she was busy wiping it of he pulled the pokéball out of her hands and raised it to the air in triumph.

"It is mine." He told her simply. Ruby looked up and sighed, waving a nonchalant hand.

"Fine." She gave in, wiping the last of the mud from her face. "I'm too tired for this." She mumbled and turned, heading back for the path. Frank raised his blobby hands in the air, cheering.

"Whooo!" He shouted. "And Ross wins by dirty play! Quite literally!" Ruby stopped hand kicked out the imaginary chare from under him. Frank exclaimed in surprise and fell backwards, into a pile of mud that lay behind him. He grumbled and looked up at Ruby who was smirking. "Hey." He called, annoyed. "That's not very nice. Ruby laughed, cruelly and continued walking, the boys following after her.

"I think I'll call it Quarrel." He decided, looking at the pokéball he had just won from Ruby, containing the Doduo that he had just caught.

"You can call it Ignacio the Wonder Bird for all I care, kid." Frank told him, sounding like a grumpy old man. "Let's just get out of here."

Again Team Ace travelled on till the sun was beginning to slowly drop out of the sky again, indicating it was around one in the afternoon now. Finally, after what seemed like ages of travelling, a small brick and metal building came into view on the path, not half a mile away.

"The route end." Ruby panted. "Finally we'll be able to move on from this place and rest." They sped up, the thought of a place to stop and rest for an hour or two encouraging them to keep on. As they got closer however they saw something was blocking the way. Whatever it was it was big. Very big in fact. It seemed to be a Pokémon of some kind but it wasn't recognisable at this distance.

"What is that?" Ross asked as they got closer to whatever it was blocking the path. Neither Ruby nor Frank knew how to answer that question.

"I don't know." Ruby told him truthfully. "Frank, do you know what that is?" She asked him, pointing at the large blob on the road ahead. Frank shook his head.

"No, sorry. Never seen that Pokémon before in my life." The group continued onwards, slowing down to a brisk walk now to save their energy. Whatever it was blocking the road clearly wasn't going to move any time soon and it took up the entire path so they couldn't find a way around. After a few minutes they were standing right next to it. Whatever it was it was big, turquoise blue with a white belly and face and had two tiny arms and legs. Its stomach poked up into the air like a giant inflated balloon and it lay sprawled out on its back, its arms lying flat out, its legs wide open… and it was snoring. Each snore was long and deafening. Every time it happened the ground shook and the air rippled around it, causing birds in the trees from metres away to abandon their perches and find somewhere less loud to nest. Ruby, Ross and Frank looked up at the giant bear like Pokémon which was at least a foot larger than they were.

"That…" Ruby told her team. "…Is a damn big Pokémon."

"How do we get around it?" Ross asked her. The Pokémon was so big it blocked the entire pathway. The fence running along the edge of the path was too tall and rickety to safely climb and the Pokémon's sides were wedged in between both the fences, leaving no gaps which the teenagers could squeeze through.

"If we can't get around it then we're going to have to climb over it." Ruby decided.

"Who's going to do that?" Ross asked. Both pairs of eyes turned to Frank. He looked back at them.

"Oh no." Frank told them, sternly. "I'm not climbing onto that thing. It might wake up."

"You're going to do that." Ruby told him, sounding as strict as usual. "And you're going to do it now, before I decide to use you as a door stopper again. Frank winced. He remembered the last time she had done that. It wasn't pretty. He still had the bruises where the door had been slammed too hard. In the job description it never mentioned that the door would be purposefully slammed on him every five seconds.

"Alright." He sighed. "I'll go up there." As he said so two flabby pink arms grew out of his ditto body and two flat clawed feet drew out from underneath. He grabbed the side of the large Pokémon's body with his hands and began to climb slowly upwards. The Pokémon hardly seemed to notice him scurrying up his body like an ant over the lap of a picnicker. After a couple of seconds he reached the top and stood on its belly. Quickly his arms and feet disappeared back into his normal gelatinous form and he stood on its rising and falling stomach. He could easily make his way to the other side of the path now. "I'm up." He called down to his friends.

"Can you get down onto the other side?" Ruby shouted up to him.

"Yes." Frank called back. He was about to do so when suddenly the Pokémon lurched. Its stomach rose up suddenly and the Pokémon began to roll onto its side. "Whoa!" Frank cried out. He wobbled about, trying to keep his balance but the Pokémon was already on its side now. Finally his footing slipped and he found himself falling back to the ground. He landed with a squelch on the solid path. Ross and Ruby took a couple of steps backwards. A large, fat, round shadow looked over Frank suddenly. He looked up to see the Pokémon's large white belling plummeting towards him. Frank let out a yell of fear, razing a fleshy hand in a desperate attempt to save himself but it was of no good. The Pokémon rolled over and lay flat on its huge belly. Frank's screaming cut off suddenly. He lay crushed under the huge amount of body fat that was a Snorlax. Ross and Ruby looked at it, covering their ears. Now that Snorlax was lying on its belly its snoring had become a lot louder.

"What do we do now?" Ross shouted over the load din.

"What?" Ruby shouted back.

"I said what do we do know?" Ross asked again, this time a lot loader.

"I don't know." Ruby replied, shouting just as loud.

"I don't see another way of getting around." Ross told her. Ruby sighed.

"Well then we're going to have to move it." Ruby decided. Ross looked at her.

"How do you plan to do that?" he asked, a little befuddled by her plan. "It must weigh five hundred times more than we do." Ruby thought for a second.

"We can get our Nedoran's to kick it aside." Ruby decided after a few seconds. Ross shrugged his shoulders.

"We could try that I guess." Ross agreed. The two of them whipped out their pokéballs and released both genders of Nidoran out onto the field. They both quickly looked at their targets and then looked back at their trainers, thinking 'Do we have to fight that?'

"Ok then." Ruby declared, only just audible over the snoring of the large Snorlax. "Claws, Spikes, move it out of the way." She commanded. Immediately the Nedoran's got to work. They first tried pushing it aside with their heads but found that they weren't strong enough even shake it. Then they tried kicking it with their back legs which moved it very slightly but it also was very tiring.

"This doesn't seem to be working." Ross deducted. "Should we try with our other Pokémon?" he asked. Ruby didn't even respond. She simply whipped out her second pokéball and released her Krabby Crabby. Ross followed her example, releasing his newly caught Doduo, Quarrel. Immediately Quarrel began to bicker between its two heads. It began squawking and kicking, trying to get the other away. "Stop it! He shouted at the rabid two headed bird. It paid no attention to his commands.

"HEY!" Ruby shouted at the top of her lungs, her tone very strict. Quarrel immediately stopped quarrelling and turned both heads, looking directly at her, surprised and afraid. "BEHAVE!" She shouted, stricter now. Quarrel lowered its heads, obediently, looking like a sad puppy that had just done a bad thing. One head squawked apologetically and then looked down at the floor. The other head followed suit. Ross looked at his team mate.

"Why is it my Pokémon only ever listen to you?"He pondered, a little annoyed by the facts. Ruby gave him a sinister smile.

"Your problem is you're not controlling with them." She explained, nearly snickering. Ross looked away at the floor in front of him, mulling over what he had been told. "Let's try this again." Ruby coughed and continued. "Claws, Spikes, Crabby, Quarrel, Move this tub of lard out of the way, will you please." All four Pokémon nodded, not wishing to disobey her and face her wrath. Claws and Spikes began kicking again, causing Snorlax's flabby body to shake and ripple to like wave on a dark blue ocean. Quarrel began head butting the Snorlax in the side with both heads at the same time. This quickly made it dizzy, however and it began to stumble around on its feet. Crabby meanwhile crawled up the side of Snorlax's body and pinched at its face. This seemed to be having some effect. Snorlax's eyes flickered ever so slightly, but it was still a while away from waking properly.

"Doesn't seem to be having much of a better effect." Ross noted. "Maybe we should just give up." He asked. Ruby shook her head.

"No. We're waking it up. If we do it might move out of the way." She sighed, defiantly. They heard footsteps approaching from behind them suddenly, still a while away but close enough to notice. Simultaneously, the two trainers turned around. Walking up behind them was the trainer that Joe and his friends had been with. They had met him a couple of times before. Once in Viridian forest when they startled the Spearow nest, once during the crisis on the S. and then again in Lavender town during the fight against Team Rocket.

"It's him." Ross realised. "That trainer that lot with the bat know. What's he doing here?"

"What else is he doing?" Ruby asked, metaphorically. "Travelling." Ross sighed.

"I know that." He told her, trying to prove he was not the idiot she thought he was. "I mean what is he doing here at this point in time, when we're trying to get rid of this large thing over here?" He gestured to Snorlax.

"Who cares?" Ruby told him. "He could help us."

"We'd have to ask nicely." Ross reminded her. Ruby nodded in agreement. The trainer was closer now and he had seen them. His face contorted from calm and tranquil to annoyance and deterrence. Ruby fake smiled back. "Hi there." She called out to him. "It's you. So nice to see you again." The trainer sighed, annoyed.

"What do you want?" He asked grumpily, not actually wanting a response. Ruby continued to smile.

"First off." She started. "How have you been, my dear…" She stopped mid gesture. She'd forgotten his name. The boy sighed.

"Tom." He finished for her.

"Yes. Tom." She finished. "How are you my friend?" Tom pushed her open hand away.

"First of we aren't friends." He explained no sympathy in his voice. "We've only met three times and each time you've been up to something that always backfires and ends badly for us. Last time you turned up one of Joe's Pokémon died." Ruby looked a little embarrassed by this comment.

"That wasn't our fault." Ross argued back. "You can't blame us for that. We didn't shoot it."

"I wouldn't go saying that around Joe." Tom warned him. "He's still hurting from it. But other than that, I have been fine, thank you." Ross and Ruby glanced at each other. Tom sighed. "What is it you want?" He asked.

"We need to move this Pokémon." Ruby gestured to the large blue/white snoring bear lying behind her. "It's in the way of the path." Tom looked behind then and his eyebrows rose up.

"I see." He said.

"What even is that?" Ross asked. Tom looked back at them.

"I think _he_ is a Snorlax." He explained.

"A Snorlax?" Ruby repeated.

"He?" Ross repeated.

"Yes." Tom told them. "I saw a picture of one a long time ago in a book. It looks exactly the same as the one in front of us." The then pointed at the lower part of Snorlax's body. "And he because of that." He told them Ross and Ruby both looked then nodded, understanding.

"Oh." They both said at the same time.

"How are we going to move it then?" Ross asked. Tom thought for a second.

"I don't think we can." He explained, simply after a couple of seconds. "It must way over a thousand pounds. We don't have any Pokémon that can lift that."

"So what do we do?" Ruby asked.

"We're going to have to wake it up." Tom told them. "Get your Ditto friend to shout in its ear for several minutes. Actually come to mention him, where is your friend?" He asked. Ross immediately pointed underneath the Snorlax.

"He's under there." He explained. Tom turned around and realised.

"Oh, of course." He nodded. Somehow that made total sense. He then looked up at Snorlax's face. "Well your Krabby seems to have got the idea." Tom told them. Ross sand Ruby followed his gaze. Crabby (With a C), their Krabby (With a K) was busy pinching Snorlax's nose with its pincers. While their other three Pokémon had already given up he had not. He crushed its small nose in its snapping pincer and saw Snorlax's eyes begin to slide open.

"No!" Ruby shouted up at it." Don't do that yet!" Too late. Snorlax's body began to quake and shudder as it woke up from its deep slumber. Its ears and head began to move slightly. Its mouth opened up and released a huge, halitosis riddled yawn right into Crabby's face. It stumbled back, covering its slit mouth with a pincer in an attempt to block the smell. Slowly, dramatically, its eyelids folded open. Its large black eyes looked upwards, then down at the crab Pokémon sitting on its belly. Suddenly the large, cuddly looking Pokémon began to emit a low, vicious growl. Its belly rippled and quaked and Crabby found itself sliding of the edge. Snorlax began to sit up, much to the amazement of the three trainers. It took it an entire minute to finally finish sitting up before it then took another minute to stand up and then another to turn and face them. It continued to growl, now looking down at the much smaller human trainers before it. Ross and Ruby began to shake in their shoes.

"Maybe this wasn't such a good idea." Ross whimpered, now regretting being so hasty in waking it up.

"No, this is good." Tom told them, not actually seeming too pleased. "Now it's no longer lying in the way."

"No." Ruby agreed. "Now it's_ standing _in the way!" The Snorlax suddenly raised a large foot and smashed it against the floor. The ground began to shake and rumble. The bushes rustled and Pokémon scattered, flying up into the air or running as far away as possible. In the trees hundreds of Farfetch'd, Pidged and Spearow flew away; abandoning their nests to what they thought was an earthquake. Ross and Ruby grabbed each other and stabilised, nearly falling over in the quaking. Tom managed to keep himself up. Snorlax began thumping its stomach and an awful guttural drumming became audible from within. The drumming continued for several seconds before Snorlax finally stopped and stood, watching them.

"It's mine." Ruby said, her confidence coming back. She took a step forward, only to be grabbed on the shoulder by Ross.

"Don't." He warned her but she ignored him. She continued to walk forwards till she stood directly underneath its stomach.

"You aren't so tough, are you!" She taunted up at it. "You're all growl, no bite!" Snorlax began to growl again, this time deeper and more guttural. Ruby just laughed. "I bet you'll be easy to catch." She smirked, pulling out and empty pokéball and throwing it at the Snorlax. To her surprise the pokéball had no effect what-so-ever. Instead Snorlax simply stopped it with a fat palm and crushed it in between its hands. It then dropped the broken pieces onto the floor before it. Ruby gulped and took a fragile step back, realising just how stupid she had been. "Ah." She fumbled. "Ok. I'll just leave you to it."She told it, affrightedly stepping away. Snorlax kept its eyes focused on them, not even blinking. It was not happy about them waking it up then trying to catch it with a puny red ball. It took a cumbersome step towards them… then fell forwards, purposefully, flat towards the trio. Tom acted quickly.

"Move!" He shouted, pushing the other two aside then jumping just out of the reach of Snorlax's falling form. Snorlax thudded onto the road. If they had been standing there a second longer it would have squashed them flat.

"Christ!" Ruby explained. "That was close!" All three trainers watched the large mass of fat. Snorlax suddenly curled up into a fat blue ball and began to roll along at immense speed. It crashed down the path and made a skidding turn, knocking over a couple of trees and came rolling back towards the three of them.

"Look out!" Ross shouted, jumping aside. Ruby and Tom followed suit, just avoiding being flattened by the fast moving boulder that was Snorlax.

"It's really not happy, is it?" Ruby joked. Tom and Ross nodded in agreement, knocking their chins on the paved floor as they did so.

"We're going to have to knock it out." Tom told them.

"How do we do that?" Ross asked him, a little annoyed. "In case you haven't noticed that thing is twice the size and a hundred timed the strength of our Pokémon." Tom thought for a second. Luckily for them Snorlax had taken a quick rest from rolling around and was now running at a rather slow pace towards the trio.

"But we have at least eight Pokémon out of the three of us." Tom explained. "If we team up together and get them all to take it on at the same time we should tire it out or at least make it think twice about fighting us." Ruby and Ross looked at each other. It was the best plan they had.

"Alright" Ruby sighed. She looked at her and Ross's four Pokémon which had hidden in the bushes by the entrance. "Come on out, guys." She called. "You've got a job to do." All four Pokémon poked their heads out. A Nidoran Male, Nidoran Female, a Krabby and a Doduo all appeared back out of the bush, looking afraid, yet determined.

"Now time to bring out my own team." Tom said, releasing all four of his pokéballs at the same time. Out popped a Wartortle, a Fearow, a Kadabra and a Weepinbell. "Now we can take it on." He announced, raising a fist to his chest, dramatically. Snorlax was almost on top of them no. It was getting ready to ram straight through the three trainers and whatever they put in its way. Tom jumped into immediate action. "Kadabra, set a quick reflect!" He commanded. Kadabra raised its spoon into the air and swiped it from left to right in a quick movement. A thin pink barrier of light appeared in front of it, just large enough for the three trainers to stand behind and safely survive any physical attack they may take. "Fearow, take position up high." Tom commanded it. Fearow nodded and took off into the sky, following the Snorlax from above and searching for the right moment to strike. "Now Wartortle, prepare a hydro pump!" Tom continued. Wartortle gulped and closed its mouth, the cheeks bulging out as they filled with water. Last left now was Weepinbell. "Ok, Weepinbell." Tom continued. "Wrap its legs up." He commanded. Weepinbell did so. It shot out two thin vines from its body which shot forwards and wrapped around Snorlax's large legs. Its feet caught and it crashed forwards onto the ground, just in front of the three trainers. It struggled to its feet and tried to reach back to grab the vines but its arms were much too short. Weepinbell kept its hold on it so it couldn't escape.

"Now let's get in there!" Ruby shouted. She pointed a hand at the large blue bulk of a Pokémon. "Claws, Spikes, Crabby, Quarrel, take it out with everything you've got." Immediately her and Ross's Pokémon sped into action and ran towards the downed Snorlax. They began kicking, Pecking, scratching and poking at it, slowly witling its health down and keeping it stationary. Tom's Pokémon joined in as well, using a variety of moves to cause damage. Kadabra was using its Psybeam to cause Snorlax to become confused. It struggled around, lashing out at anything near it. Wartortle released a huge plum of water from its mouth, dowsing the large Pokémon and soaking it to the bone. Fearow dive bombed and struck Snorlax, beak first in the stomach, causing it to gulp in and exclaim in stunned pain. Snorlax swiped viciously at the Pokémon beside it. Crabby went flying, Snorlax's paw hitting it away as it tried to use bubble to damage it. It kicked and hit Quarrel in the chest. Quarrel stuttered backwards in surprised, both heads chattering. Suddenly they began to argue again and Quarrel was left fighting itself a little away from the battle. It rolled over and pushed away Wartortle and Kadabra, also causing Fearow to dive bomb into the ground. Now only Claws and Spikes, the two Nedoran's were left fighting.

"Try kicking at the same time." Ross suggested. The Nedoran's did suck. They turned around, lifted up their backs, pulled in their legs and kicked out. Four small rabbit-like feet his Snorlax's side and it winced, taking quite a bit of damage. They kicked again and Snorlax tried to roll over, pulling the vines and yanking Weepinbell forwards quite suddenly. They kicked again, then again and then again. Snorlax rolled and mumbled around. It lay on its stomach, trying to resist the pain. It kicked out and narrowly missed hitting Claws in the face.

"Now both use poison sting at the same time." Ruby commanded. The Nedoran's nodded and lunged forwards, head spikes lowered down to jab. Synchronised they lunged forwards, jabbing into Snorlax's side. Suddenly it seemed to stop, its face turning green and small purple bubbles floating out of its mouth.

"Good work." Ross praised them. Spikes and Claws stepped back, still ready for a fight. Suddenly there was a small purple-white flash from the both of them and they began to glow. Their forms grew upwards and outwards as the light expanded. Suddenly it faded away and where the two small Nedoran's had stood were now two different Pokémon. Where Claws had stood was a now taller, at least twice the size, blue and purple spotted, spiked, large eared, small eyed, short armed, fat legged rabbit-like Pokémon with a long fan snout nose and face. Spikes was similar except he was purple with dark grey spots and his horns were thinner and sharper, especially the one on the front of his head. His front and back legs were the same size and length and the spines on his back formed a long ridge down his spine. The two next steps in evolution for Nidoran Male and Female. Nidorino and Nidorina. Ross and Ruby were staring at them in amazement. Suddenly Ross whooped with surprised delight.

"Finally!" He exclaimed. "Finally it evolved!" He ran over and was about to hug the now larger Pokémon when he remembered the spikes. "Now I can win more fight." He cheered.

"Don't you think we should beat this Snorlax before we start celebrating?" Ruby asked him. Ross looked deflated.

"Ok." He sighed. "Spikes use horn attack!" He commanded. Spikes did so, using his now larger head barb.

"Claws, use Bite." Ruby ordered. Claws jumped forwards and bit down hard on Snorlax's belly, causing immense pain.

"Looks like its weak now." Ross noted.

"It should be close to feinting soon." Ruby agreed. "We've got it now." Suddenly something small and round passed their faces and flew forwards, towards the downed Snorlax. It was small, round and black with a yellow U shaped stripe. It hit Snorlax in the belly and immediately it disappeared inside with a flash of pink-red light. The ball dropped to the floor on top of an exhausted, flattened Frank who had been left behind when Snorlax disappeared. It shook once and Frank groaned.

"What happened" he asked, a flat, fleshy arm rising up into the air. Ruby and Frank looked at each other, then behind them. Tom stood there, his hand open and pointing out. Clearly he had been the one who threw the pokéball.

"What have you done?" Ruby asked him, angry. "That was our Pokémon by right! Who said you could catch it?" Tom just stared at her, no expression rising on his face except for pure calm.

"I did most of the fighting." He told her. "I trapped it. I took it down. I kept it down for you to fight. Besides I threw the pokéball first so there's nothing you can do about that."

"Well what if we grab it first?" Ross asked. Suddenly he spun around and ran for the black and yellow ball, running head first into the barrier that Kadabra had set up and was knocked flat onto the floor. Ruby watched and tutted top herself. She then looked back at Tom, anger rising in her voice.

"You win this one." She told him, pointing a finger. "But know that you have made yourself an enemy today." Tom smirked at her threat.

"I really couldn't care less." He told her. "You're just a pair of stuck up rich kids who think they own the world. Well guess what. You don't own me or my Pokémon _or_ my Goal!" He turned around and pulled out all four of his normal pokéballs, withdrawing each of them one by one. As he reached the Ultra ball it stopped shaking and fell still. He picked it up too and added it to his belt. He then casually stood there where Snorlax had lain. He waved a hand behind him, showing Ruby the path end. "There's your goal. Now I suggest you quickly get moving." He snapped at her. Ruby glared at him. She helped Ross and Frank up and carried them off back down the path. As she passed Tom she glared at him.

"We won't forget this." She hissed. Tom smiled sinisterly back.

"I don't want you too." He told her. "I want you to remember my name." Team Ace was nearly at the gateway now. "Thomas Icarus!" He shouted after them. "Remember the name!" He stood there for a solid minute watching them walk through the gate and disappear behind the doors.

"Tom!" Someone shouted from not too far away. Tom turned. Running towards him was his Old friend, Joe Glende, and not too far behind him were his friends, Winter Kitoshi and Rocky Stone. Flying past them to catch up with Joe was his Pokémon, Ralph the Crobat. Tom smiled, disarmingly, hiding his latest pokéball from sight of the trainers approaching.

"Joe!" He called back. "It's so good to see you again." He held out his hand and Joe shook it. "How have you been?" He asked. Joe shrugged.

"Better." He admitted. "I was a little self-conscious after the incident at Lavender town but after I took on Nami and battled Erika in Celadon I've begun to feel a lot more confident. You were right about her being tough. She beat me the first time around." He looked around at the scenery Tom was standing in. "What happened here?" He asked.

"Nothing." Tom responded immediately, lying through his teeth. "Just a trainer battle. It was a very tough battle." Joe nodded, believing his friends words.

"Alright." He said. "Is that who you were shouting at?" He asked. Tom turned. Team Ace were long gone by now.

"Yes, it was." He told him. Rocky and Winter joined Joe's side now. Tom reached out and patted Ralph's head. He looked a little suspecting. Something in Tom's words didn't sound right. Tom smiled at the two new trainers. "Hello, you two." He smiled. "Nice to see you all again."

"Good to see you too." Winter replied, smiling back.

"Will you join us on the way to Fuchsia city?" Rocky asked him. Tom smiled simply back.

"How could I say no?" He told him.

"Alright then." Joe declared, patting Tom roughly on the shoulder. "We should get going then. It'll be getting dark in a while. We can set up camp on the next route." Joe passed him and continued walking. He stopped and waved for them to follow. "Well come on. We've still got a long journey to make." He called. Winter and Rocky followed him. Tom turned to follow when he was passed by Ralph who looked him up and down, still a little suspicious. Tom smiled innocently and Ralph continued after his friend. Tom's smile disappeared. He looked around, saw the debris around him that Snorlax had left and followed closely after them.

A few hours later and night had finally arrived. The group of four had set up camp and quickly dropped off to sleep. Not all were at peace however. Joe turned about in his sleep. Dark dreams came flooding in on him again. This time they showed his a new door in the dark corridor of five. The door swung open and Joe saw the hillside near Suroway farm. He was looking down from on top of the hill towards the farm itself. He looked around. Next to him stood to happy young trainers, aged around ten and eleven. One boy was distinctly Asian looking, about half and half, maybe on his father's side. The other was a little younger then his brother but he looked a little more Caucasian in origin. He had a lighter brown hair then his brother and he was a little shorter but not as skinny. Beside them stood two Pokémon. One was a Growlithe, similar to the ones his uncle raised and the one he kept as a pet. The other was a Meowth which Joe had also seen before, most recently in Celadon department store. Both boys were carrying trainer bags and waving at a man and woman in the distance, clearly their parents. Beside them was a younger, less grey haired Professor Oak. Joe decided that this must have been at least 30 years ago he was seeing. Kanto looked so much cleaner and full of life back then. The two trainers had now begun to set off, their Pokémon following after them. Joe smiled. This vision seemed weirdly happy. Almost too happy in a way. The feeling it gave off was old, and not in a good way. It seemed that this happiness was long gone now. As if it had faded away into sand and dust. The world blurred and reappeared as a different vision. This time he was standing on the second floor of Lavender Town's Pokémon Tower. Around him stood all the graves of deceased Pokémon that had been buried. This place brought back bad memories for him. He hoped He'd never see the inside of the tower again after the incident. He noticed that someone was weeping, somewhere near him. He turned around. One of the boys he had seen atop the hill near Suroway farm was kneeling in front of a grave stone only a few feet away from him, his face in his hands. It was the oldest boy, at least a year older then he had been before, kneeling on the floor, his bag beside his lap. He was crying pretty deeply, unable to keep his sorrow held in. Joe looked at the grave he was kneeling before. On the grave was a red pokéball, clipped open and a small bunch of flowers, the exact same species Joe had put on Stings grave, lay around it. He looked up at the tombstone. It read 'Malin the Persian. Caught June 1st 1965, Died August 16th 1966. Killed in a rock slide while saving his trainer. Will forever be remembered in our hearts.' Joe stepped back and gasped down at the boy. He too had suffered the horrible pain of losing a Pokémon. The boy began to mutter words in his grief. Joe listened carefully.

"Why?" The boy whimpered. He punched the floor beside him. "Why, why, why, why, why did you have to die?" He fell forwards, his head touching the metal floor, tears poring away down his face. Joe felt a tear falling down his own face. He quickly wiped it away and sniffed. This poor boy had suffered a lot that was obvious. The other boy didn't seem to be anywhere nearby Joe noticed. Suddenly a dark figure appeared. The same one Joe had seen in his previous dreams he had had. The figure that knew his name and knew about Ralph. He was still as dark as night, the only thing visible was a black suit and hat atop his head. He walked slowly up behind the boy and stood there for several seconds before the boy finally looked around. He looked up at him, tears wetting his cheeks. The man looked down at him; a glistening came from under his hat, indicating he was smiling with his pearly white teeth. He held out a hand. The boy looked at it for a couple of seconds.

"Do not worry." The figure told him. "You are safe with me. You will always be safe with me." The boy took his hand. Joe wanted to shout at him, trying to tell him not to do it but he found his mouth was sealed shut and his voice was flat and gone. He watched s the man took the boy away with him. As they walked into the dark he heard the man speak.

"You will learn much from us. Young master Walker."

"Uncle!" Joe shouted, his voice suddenly returning, screaming the word out like it was his last breath. The darkness engulfed the two of them and spread forth, covering the entire world in its icy black sheet.

Joe shot up, screaming his lungs out. After a couple of seconds he stopped, taking in a heavy inhale of breath. He looked around and saw that everyone in the entire camp had been woken up. He apologized and went back to sleep. The others did the same

A couple of hours later Ralph was awoken by a fluttering sound nearby. His ears twitched and his eyes slowly opened. He looked around. Nothing. He decided it must have been the wind. The fluttering sound came back. He opened his eyes again. Still nothing. He looked up. Above him, gliding down to the ground with its two long bat wings was a Golbat. It landed on both feet on the leafy ground and watched Ralph curiously. Ralph looked at it, unsure what it was going to do. The Golbat waved a limp wing at him and smiled through its gaping fanged maw. Ralph got up onto his own feet, using his front wings as arms.

"Who are you?" He asked it in Poke-speech. The Golbat smiled at him.

"Relax." He replied. "I mean you no harm." He lifted a wing up, showing he would not cause any trouble. "I am a friend to you." He said softly. "I wish only to speak to you, on behalf of my master." Ralph looked him up and down. There was something to be suspicious of about him for certain.

"Who are you?" Ralph repeated again, more sternly this time. Golbat didn't flinch at his voice.

"I am Golbat." Golbat told him. "I do not carry a nickname. You, on the other hand do." Golbat told him, pointing at Ralph with the tip of his outstretched wing. "You are Ralph the Crobat." He announced. Ralph gasped in actual surprise. This surprise turned quickly into suspicious.

"How do you know me?" Ralph asked. Golbat gave an ambiguous sigh.

"I know a lot. About you and your friends over there." He said, pointing now at the four sleeping trainers. Ralph looked at them, too. Tom was sleeping a little away from the group. Rocky was lying against a tree stump, snoring lightly. Joe and Winter meanwhile were resting beside each other against a laid down log by the camp fire. It seemed that the female was a little too close for comfort to Golbat. Their eyes turned back to each other.

"You think he is your friend?" Golbat asked. Ralph immediately nodded. Golbat shook his head in disagreement. "He is not. No human is your friend. He uses you like all the rest have used you. He does not care for your feeling, only his own." Golbat folded its wings. Ralph looked from Golbat to Joe then back to Golbat.

"You lie." He decided, finally. "Joe would never hurt me. He has shown me that already. He is good hearted. He cares about his Pokémon." Ralph lowered his head sternly. "He is my friend. My best friend." He told him. Golbat continued to shake his head.

"How do you know?" He asked him, trying to make him unsure. "How do you know he won't abandon you one day? Humans are all the same. None of them care for us bats anymore. We're a lost cause to them. Useless. Unsalvageable. Untameable. Crobats are a dead species. Only you are left now. That last of a kind that no one wants." Ralph looked down. What he said was true. People didn't want Crobats as Pokémon normally. They weren't cute like Pikachu's or Jigglypuff or clefairy or even meowth. They weren't easy to train either. Many Crobats are wild by nature. They are born to hunt at amazing speeds in the dark skies of the world. Because of this there is no real demand among trainers for one, even though they are strong Pokémon in their own right. Ralph noticed Golbat watching him still. It licked its fat tongue across its tight lips. "There is one who may still want you are their Pokémon." Golbat told him. Ralph looked up suddenly aware. He stared at the slightly smaller bat Pokémon before him.

"No." He said firmly, sudden fear spread through his body, freezing his gaze on the Golbat before him. "I will not go back to him." Golbat smiled, insidiously.

"You will eventually." Golbat told him in a low, hushed, sinister voice. "Your master is returning to Kanto. Five days from now he will arrive. And when that happens nothing will stop him from taking back his rightful crown and his faithful lapdog." He spat the words out.

"I will never go back to him." Ralph strictly told him. "He is a tyrant and a bully. I will never rejoin him." Golbat shrugged.

"Suit yourself. It mumbled. "But be warned. Your friends shall suffer more if you do not abandon him now." Ralph turned to look at Joe. He felt a gust of wind before him and Golbat took off into the night. Two words followed its path. They echoed through the dark cold forest of the mind like a sickness. They spread like a cancer and dug a way into his soul. Those words now awoke inside his memories. They escaped through his ears into the screaming nightly wind, glistening like gems in the full moonlight before him.

"Hail Giovanni!" They whispered.


	21. Chapter 21: Sky Race to Fuchsia City

A flash of purple, a gust of wind, a glint of bright white teeth, an ear piercing screech, a cry of pain, a cheer of success, a moan of loss. Joe cheered his Pokémon on as the battle finally came to a screeching halt. The trainer gave up and withdrew their Pokémon, handing Joe his winning money. Joe and Ralph high fived. That was their fifth victory that morning and Joe was beginning to worry that they were getting too good. Ralph had decided that he would stay. He would not leave his friends side simply because some random Golbat told him that Joe would betray him. Looking into his trainers eyes he could see it clear as day. Joe cared the world about him. He would never try to hurt him. In a way they were both misunderstood wanderers. Joe was young but much stronger then he seemed, both in body and spirit, while Ralph was not an attractive sight but he way strong, brave and loyal to his friends while being the worst nightmare to his enemies.

"Alright, Ralph." Joe cheered. That's number five already. We're nearing our personal best again." He patted Ralph on the shoulder. "You're doing great." He encouraged him. Ralph smiled back. He felt grateful to have a friend like Joe. Winter joined them now. She, Rocky and Tom had been looking through the woods area of the route, helping Tom with his pokedex. It had felt like so long ago since Joe left Pallet town. He had completely forgotten about his promise to Professor Oak in filling up the pokedex. Tom seemed to be doing a good job with it anyway so it probably wouldn't matter too much what his pokedex registered.

"How's it going?" She asked, casually looking at the small red device Joe gripped in his hands. He glanced at her from the side.

"It's going well." He told her. "Five trainers beaten already. Two more and we'll have a new record." Winter smiled.

"That's awesome." She told him. "You've really gotten back onto your feet." She encouraged. Joe smiled back.

"Thanks." He said, gratefully. It had been hard on him loosing Sting like he had. But time had found a way of healing. Although the scar would never heal the original shock had seemed too worn away. Some doubt still nagged at the back of his head, however. A doubt that he could succeed.

"What happened last night, by the way?" Winter asked, taking Joe by surprise.

"Huh?" He asked unconsciously, glancing back at her.

"I asked what you were shouting about last night." Winter repeated. "You woke us all up. What was wrong? Bad dreams?" She asked.

"It's nothing." Joe insisted, yet his face didn't agree. He had the look of someone suffering with their thoughts.

"It can't be nothing." Winter argued, still sounding kind as she did so. Joe sighed. He didn't know whether he should tell his friends about the dream he had been having. What if it was nothing and they were all getting worried about it. But worse… what if it was true, but no one believed him. "You said 'Uncle'." Winter continued. Joe stopped, his breath holding and his body tensing. The word floated around in the air before him. There was no way he was going to lie about this now, not if she'd heard what he had said.

"I'll tell you later." He promised. "Once Tom's left and Rocky's asleep I'll tell you tonight."

Rocky arrived now, his faithful Machop, Chopper, following alongside him. Behind them came Tom, Joe's oldest friend and companion. All three of them were looking very happy.

"Any luck?" Joe asked, noticing them turning up, large grins on their faces. They all nodded their heads, vigorously.

"Lots." Tom told him. "I found a flock of Doduo living nearby and caught one for the pokedex. I also found a small family of Mankey living not too far away and added some extra data on them into the Dex." Dex was a slang term for pokedex. It was what Tom called it.

"I also got to train Chopper and Mina." Rocky added. He too was excited.

"Nice work." Winter told them.

"While we were out doing that I had a thought." Tom told them all. "Why don't we all have a Sky Race?" They looked at him.

"What's a Sky Race?" Joe asked. Tom looked back at them all. Even Ralph seemed confused, and that rarely happened.

"Surely you all know what a Sky Race is." Tom told them. He saw their vacant faces and noted that clearly they didn't know what a Sky Race was.

"We don't. What's a Sky Race?" Rocky asked him. Tom loosened up a little.

"A Sky Race is a race from one city to another using only flying Pokémon." He explained. "The trainer rides on that Pokémon all the way to the city and the first one to land successfully in the city centre wins. I picked up the idea from Pokémon Battle Arena, the TV show. They did something similar on that."

"I think we may have a problem with that." Winter interrupted. "Rocky and I don't have any flying type Pokémon. How are we meant to compete?" She asked. Tom thought for a second. "Me and Joe will have to have the race then." He decided. "I can get Kadabra to teleport you to Fuchsia to wait for us if you want." He told them. Rocky and Winter looked to each other.

"We would have liked to have had a race with you…" She explained. "But seeing as how neither of us has a flying type Pokémon we can't take part. We'll be ok with making our way to Fuchsia city." She told him. Rocky nodded in agreement.

"If you're sure that's ok." Tom continued. Winter and Rocky nodded.

"It's fine." Rocky told him. "We'll be fine waiting for you." Tom shrugged.

"Ok then." He declared, simply. He turned back to Joe. "So, you want to have a race? "He asked him. Joe looked a little frightened now, glancing at the sky nervously every few seconds.

"So I'd have to… to…" He gulped, actual nervousness appearing on his face. It was the same fear his friends had seen in Viridian forest when he had tried to rescue Sting as a Kakuna from a Spearow nest. During that day he had fallen from the tree and almost severely injured himself had Ralph not stopped his fall. He pointed up into the sky. Tom gave him a kindly smile.

"Oh don't worry." Tom told him. "I've done this before with Fearow. You'll enjoy it. Feeling the wind on your face, flowing through your hear. Bliss!" He raised his hands open to the air. Joe looked to his bat friend. Ralph gave him an unsure look. This would be a first time flying so high for him, too.

"Tom I don't think I can do this." Joe told him, the hint of panic growing rapidly in his voice. "What if I slip and fall. I'll end up a human pancake." Tom chuckled.

"Don't worry, my friend. Ralph will keep you safe up there." He gestured to Ralph who stood beside Joe. Ralph did his best to look confident. He wanted to keep his friend calm and not discourage him but he worried if he could take his weight. Crobat's were not exactly the strongest of flying types.

"Tom, I just can't." Joe tried to say but his words stumbled. He knew that Tom understood his fear of height but it was tough for him to even say it to himself. His brain forced his mouth shut. Tom watched his friend struggle with his emotional pain. "I really just can't. It's too much." Joe continued, gesturing his hands desperately.

"What's the matter?" Rocky asked him. He was the only one of them that didn't know about Joe's fear of heights. Winter stood up for him.

"Joe has a phobia of heights." She explained, quietly but hardly subtly. Rocky looked to Joe a little surprised then nodded understanding.

"Ah, right." He said. "That's actually a surprise. I never thought that would be something you feared, especially with Ralph being your Pokémon." Winter nudged him in the chest and he coughed. "Sorry." He added. Tom nodded.

"Alright." He sighed. "Would it make you feel safer if I said I could give you some tools that would help you fly?" Tom asked. Joe looked back up at him, confused.

"What do you mean tools?" He asked.

"I mean attach a safety line around Ralph and yourself and teach him the HM Fly so he'll be able to carry you." Tom explained. Joe seemed encouraged by this.

"Do you have all that?" He asked. Tom smiled.

"It won't take a second."

A couple of minutes later and Ralph was all set up. He had a long Elastic harness wrapped around his stomach and wing joints that was attached with three separate climbing hooks around Joe's belt. Joe had been given a couple of straps to wear around his body which the three hooks had been clipped to and a set of Aviator goggles to wear on his face. Currently it sat on top of his red and white hat. He looked at his new gear, then back up at his friends.

"Where did you get all this stuff?" He asked Tom who also wore the same equipment as him. Tom tapped his nose.

"The right people." He told him. "I got the equipment from a gym leader I pumped into from Hoenn. She gave me the equipment I deed to fly a Pokémon for the first time and taught my Fearow Fly. Now I can teach Ralph Fly as well." He grabbed his Fearow's neck and pulled himself up onto its back, using the edge of its lowered wing to boost himself up. Fearow was not hurt by this. He sat on its shoulders, his legs tapping the joint of its neck. It cawed calmly, announcing its readiness. Tom patted it and stroked its neck. Joe walked up to Ralph. He seemed very nervous about what he was about to try doing."We'll just get into the air first." Tom told him. "Don't panic and you'll be fine." He coughed. "I'd say don't look down but, trust me, that's impossible." Joe smiled, sarcastically. He wished Tom hadn't said that. It wasn't exactly an encouraging comment. He lifted his left leg up over Ralph's wing and slowly, carefully sat down on his smooth purple back. Ralph dropped down a little, struggling to carry Joe's weight on his body. Joe patted his side, comforting him.

"It's ok, Ralph." He whispered. "We'll do this together." He adjusted his weight and tried to make Ralph more comfortable with him on his back. He glanced over to Tom. "I don't think this is going to work." He told him, the panic still hinted in his voice. Tom nodded encouragingly.

"You can do it." He encouraged him. "Just tell him to Fly in the direction you want and he'll be able to do it." Tom explained.

"How exactly does that work?" Joe asked him. "He can hardly take my weight. He'll never get up into the air." Tom waved a hand, calmly.

"It's a weird science." He began to explain. "Now that I've taught him the HM Fly he can use it if you command him to, even if you're on his back. She explained it all to me. All you do is say 'Fly' then the direction you want to go say east, north, west, south, forwards, backwards, up, down, etc. and then he will do it. For some reason upon using the command for the move he gains the strength to carry any trainer, no matter what the weight. I don't really understand the science, it might be psychological. This does not affect the amount of physical damage they cause, only the amount of weight they can carry on their backs." He paused for breath. Joe looked vacantly at him, his expression showing absolute non understanding. "Just tell Ralph to 'Fly up', then you'll be in the air like you weigh nothing, soaring against or with the wind" Joe still didn't look to sure but it was worth the try.

"Ok, then." He looked down at Ralph. "Ok." He breathed, calmly. "Ralph, Fly up." The second he finished uttering the words Ralph's eyes widened to black circles. A sudden superior strength awakened inside of him and he shot upwards, straight into the air, the ground quickly disappeared below him.

"WHAAAAAAHH!" Joe screamed as he suddenly shot upwards through the low layer of clouds and up high into the huge blue sky. He closed his eyes and gripped his arms around Ralph's small body. Ralph hardly seemed to be effected by his weight anymore, even though they were roughly the same size and Joe was struggling to stay seated on top of him. Ralph beamed, a large white smile growing across his face as the wind passed over his body and cooled his face, neck and ears. He had never felt such a rush. He had flown before obviously but never this high or this fast. He spun, twirled, dashed and dived, the excitement spurring him on. Joe however was enjoying the experience less. He thudded the Ralph's side with his fist and whispered "Could you stop doing that for now." Ralph nodded obediently and returned to a simple glide in the air. Joe opened his eyes and immediately found himself looking down. He gulped and grabbed tighter. Then he looked up. An awe filled gasp escaped silently from his mouth as he took in for the first time what flying really was. Before him was a new landscape. Not the grassy, hilly, tree filled land of Kanto but the open, blue space of the sky. Clouds in the distance and up close formed multiple various shapes, resembling things he knew, things he didn't know too well and things that he didn't even know could exist. Bellow him was the flat solid land in which gravity was necessary but up in the air he could do anything. He sat up properly now and pulled down his goggles. His jumper flailed behind him, and his harness lashed at his legs. A laugh came from his mouth. Flying was nothing like he had always imagined. He imagined flying to be rough, cold and terrifying but now he was doing it himself it was surprisingly calming. Up here gravity didn't need to exist. He felt like he could do anything. The cold air that was clearly hitting him wasn't even noticeable with the energy of the flight flowing though his blood. He let go of Ralph's chest and held out his arms. The air fluttered past him as though it was nothing.

"This…" He laughed, hardly able to keep his euphoria contained. "This is AMAZING!" He shouted. He punched the air in excitement and Ralph laughed, looking back and seeing his friend so excited. He looked forwards again and dived through a thick cloud pile, leaving their imprint whiffed up behind them. Flying like this was incredible, it was surreal, it was ecstatic, it was gracious, it was impossible yet possible, it was unbelievable… but most of all it was calming. Any fear that Joe had previously had of height seemed to fade away when he flew like this, mounted on the back of a Crobat, soaring off into the unknown sky ahead. Joe sat, air rushing past his face, through his hair, down his spine and through his spirit. This is what it was to be alive. Suddenly Ralph slowed down a little and he began to shake side to side. They had hit a strong gust of cold air and it was causing strong turbulence. Ralph was buffeted slightly by the strong air current. He rocked side to side and bumped up as he was knocked about by the force of incoming air. Joe found his grip slipping from both his hands and legs. He slid about slightly, jolted to the right after being hit by a heavy breeze, and suddenly he was plummeting back down to the ground bellow. He heard Ralph's surprised and concerned cry as he plummeted down, wind roaring through his ears. He screamed out in surprise, his arms flailing in the air as the wind around him caught in his clothing and slowed his descent. He fell backwards out of the sky. Behind him was the world, open and flat like a painting canvas. Both fortunately and unfortunately Joe could not see how far he was up as he fell down backwards. This didn't make him any less fearful, however. He fell onwards, falling faster and faster. Suddenly something stopped his fall. His harness came to the end of its tether. It yanked him up as it stretched out and recoiled, the elastic inside reacting to his weight. Joe hung there in the air for a couple of seconds, still conscious, still moving, the climbing hooks on his belts clattering as they were pulled on by the harness. He laughed, glad he had this equipment.

"Thank you, Tom!" he shouted in delight over the roar of the wind. Ralph looked down and saw he was ok. He called down to him, happily smiling his gladness. Now all he had to worry about was getting back up to Ralph again. Joe grabbed the harness with both hands and began pulling himself back up. It was a tiring hall as Joe had to use all the strength in his arms to pull himself up an inch. He had nowhere to put his feet so he could push himself up so they were left hanging in the air bellow him. When Joe had got high enough he was able to stand one leg on the now loose elastic rope curling bellow him and use that to stand himself up right. "Keep flying forwards." Joe Shouted up to Ralph above. Ralph called back. Slowly Joe began to climb again. After a couple of minutes he finally reached Ralph again. He would not be able to get back up top again but he was stable enough to hang on from below. He grabbed on to Ralph's body strap with his left arm and hung from there, the elastic cord wrapped around his feet. He hung there, stable, his free arm lashing at the air. "I think we should land now" Joe told Ralph. Ralph nodded in agreement and began to descend slowly back to the ground. He turned around and began to fly back the way they had come. After half a minute the path they had been on came into view. Joe could see his friends waiting for him. They waved up at him high up in the sky above them. "Alright Ralph." Joe instructed, patting his side. "Bring us down, gently." Ralph did so. He folded his wings in and descended quickly, getting slowly faster and faster as the ground got closer and closer. "Pull up!" Joe shouted over the roaring air and tugged on Ralph's belt. Ralph pulled his wings back out and held them against the wing, causing him to slow down suddenly to a simple glide. He slowly floated back down to the ground and hovered over it for a couple of seconds. Joe jumped down from his footing bellow Ralph and landed, knees bent, safely on both legs firmly on the ground. Ralph joined his side, needing a short rest from their flight. Joe tumbled about slightly, finding he had lost his balance due to the flight and was currently resting against Ralph to keep himself up. The other three watched him stumbling slightly.

"How was it?" Rocky asked. Joe nodded, full of energy yet still spinning slightly.

"It was incredible!" He laughed after nearly retching as his body got used to still land. He brushed the hair pointing out from his hat back with his sweating fingers. "I have never felt so alive! I fell off at one point but luckily the harness stopped me falling too far." Tom was smiling.

"I told you you'd be fine" He congratulated him.

"What happened to your fear?" Winter asked him. Joe just smiled back.

"It vanished." He admitted. "Just gone. I totally forgot about it." He laughed again. "I think I should give Ralph a rest before we go back up there again. It must be tiring flying like that for a long time." He explained. Ralph nodded in agreement, clearly tired from their high flying trip. Tom understood.

"Ok then." He told them. "We have a quick hours rest then we'll get started."

The time was now 12:45 just gone. Winter and Rocky had set of at least 55 minutes prior in order to be not too far away from Fuchsia city by the time Joe and Tom would reach it. At this point they were most likely half way and walking down the last third of the cycle path. Tom and Joe both sat ready on their flying Pokémon. Tom was perched on his Fearow while Joe had set himself on Ralph's shoulders. Sitting on Joe's shoulders was his small friendly Pikachu, Pippy, while with Tom was his courageous companion, Wartortle. Tom had already explained the rules of the race.

"Ok." He had said. "Here are the rules. Each trainer may use only one Pokémon to fly on. The ridden Pokémon may not attack the opponent either physically or with special attacks. Also the trainer must have one other, small Pokémon to ride with them and attack for their flying Pokémon. They trainer may not switch out either Pokémon if they feint. The side Pokémon may attack the opponent's flyer, not their side. If a trainer is knocked from the sky they lose. First to Fuchsia city's gate wins." He finished. Joe nodded, not too sure if he understood but he was willing to try. Ralph however looked completely befuddled. Why did they need to actually fight? Why couldn't this be a test of speed and endurance? "Ready?" Tom asked. Joe nodded back, unsure.

"Ready?" He said unsurely. Tom nodded.

"Ok. Oh and one last thing. Follow the path bellow." He added quickly as he pulled down his own aviator goggles. "Ok, GO!" he shouted suddenly. There was a blur of brown and air as Fearow suddenly whooshed past Joe and his Pokémon as Tom shot high up into the sky, already taking a huge lead before Joe had even gotten ready.

"Christ!" He exclaimed, stunned by the surprise of the move. He tapped Ralph's side to encourage him forwards. "We need to catch up quick." He told him. "Fly Up, after them!" he commanded. Again Ralph quite suddenly shot forwards and up into the sky. Joe and Pippy had to hold on for dear life as Ralph shot of at incredible speeds, pulling them along with him. Joe grabbed Pippy's body with one hand and held him against his chest to keep him safe. As he did so he pulled down his goggles with a swift movement of his hands and Ralph soared up through the clouds and sat in the blue sky, looking for the telltale signs of Fearow. Pippy looked around in awe. He had never been up so high before in his life. Joe patted his head, kindly and Pippy let out a delighted squeak. Joe smiled and patted Ralph's back too. "All right." He told them both. "Let's race!"

They flew on for a solid minute and still couldn't see any sign of Tom and his Pokémon. They appeared to have vanished completely. Ralph lowered back below the clouds so he could she where the path was going. Luckily for them the bicycle road that was part of the path was mainly a large concrete bridge that passed over the large sea that took up the majority of Kanto's water mass, ended at Vermillion dock. It headed at a diagonal angle down to Fuchsia city, the furthest south land based city in Kanto, excluding Cinnabar Island which wasn't a physically connected part of Kanto. They swooped in lower but still could not see Tom or his Fearow. ""Where'd they go?" Joe wondered. Suddenly there was a loud caw from above them. They glanced up to see Tom and his Wartortle descending beside them on Fearow's back. They came in level next to Ralph, waving cheerfully as the Joe, Pippy and Ralph just stared at them.

"Hey there." Joe shouted over to them. "How's it going?" He signalled. Joe signalled back.

"It's going good." He shouted over the roaring air.

"That's good to know." Tom shouted back. "Then he ushered Wartortle up to the side so he stood before Tom looking at Joe and Ralph. "Wartortle, use Water gun!" Joe heard him shout over the gust of air passing them. Immediately he took action.

"Quick, drop!" He instructed. Ralph didn't need telling twice. He dropped in height quickly, the jet of water flying from Wartortle's mouth passing just overhead and of into the sky bellow. Joe looked back at Tom and gave a smug smile. "So that's how you want to play." He chuckled to himself. He picked up Pippy and placed him carefully onto his shoulder. "Thundershock!" Joe Shouted. Pippy readied the static in his cheeks and fired a small bolt of electricity at the slow flying Fearow, hitting it in the side and causing it to jolt slightly and slow down a little. Tom could be heard cursing and he patted his Pokémon's side, calming it and making sure it was ok. He gave Joe a steely look and placed a light hand on Wartortle's shoulder, whispering something into his ear. Wartortle grinned and stepped up. It opened its mouth and freezing cold air began to form from within. After a second or so the air compacted together and formed a small ball. After another second that ball shrunk to a tiny pale aqua dot. Joe suddenly realised what it was going to do. He grabbed Ralph's collar and suddenly yanked back, causing him to come to a sudden halt in mid air. As he did so Wartortle released its attack. A long thread thin beam of ice shot out of its gapping jaw and straight past Ralph's face, only inches away from his flat nose. If they had kept going the beam would have hit him square in the side. As Joe Ralph and Pippy stared at the beam in sudden shock Wartortle stuck out its tongue at them, then proceeding to chuckle to itself as Fearow pulled away, flying off to the left away from them.

"Good work, Wartortle." Joe heard tom praise as they flew away, out of hearing distance. He patted Ralph who had begun to fly forwards again.

"Ice beam. Clever." Joe thought aloud, praising his friend's smart idea. "We'll have to look out for that." He told his Pokémon. Ralph turned, heading back onto the path direction. Joe and Pippy kept their eyes out for Tom's possible return. Finally Pippy began calling out and pointing towards a small clump of cloud not too far away. From the cloud burst Tom atop his Fearow, flying along in their direction, slowly catching up. While Ralph was faster than Fearow, Fearow was more defensive and Wartortle was definitely to be reckoned with now that they knew he had Ice beam up his sleeve – or rather shell. "Speed up, Ralph." Joe encouraged. "We need to keep ahead of them." Ralph nodded in response. He shot forwards, causing a huge gust of air to strike the two riders.

Bellow the two flying Pokémon was the cycle road. On the concrete surface their small, grainy, faded shadow's passed. On the road walked two trainers, one male, tall and wearing a grey jumper, the other female, slightly shorter, ginger and wearing green and yellow summer clothing. As they walked the two shadows passed over them quickly, first Ralph's, the Fearow's. Both Rocky and Winter looked up and watched the two Pokémon and their trainers pass by.

"Well that was quick." Winter said, watching their flight.

"If we don't hurry up they'll be waiting for us for ages." Rocky told her. He then proceeded to pull out one his pokéballs. "Let's speed this up." He announced, releasing the ball and his large stone snake Onix, Crash appearing before them. Quickly he climbed up onto its back and sat near the head, clinging on with both his large strong hands. He passed a hand back down to Winter. "Climb on." He told her. She took his hand and he helped her up. She gripped onto Crash's solid rock spine with her won smaller, weaker hands and held on tight. "Ok then." Rocky announced. "Crash, get us to Fuchsia city, quickly as possible." He told it. Crash nodded obediently and suddenly began sliding forwards at a pretty quick speed. Not fast enough to catch up with Joe, Ralph and Tom but fast enough so that they would be only a few minutes behind. Quickly they slid on, following the shadows high above them.

Meanwhile there was a full on dog fight going on up above them. Ralph constantly tried to dodge Wartortle's attacks while keeping steady so Pippy and Joe could attack back at Fearow. Occasionally either one of them would land a successful hit but not enough to do any real damage or cause any problems. At one point Ralph hit a bit of turbulence and Pippy nearly ended up shooting him with thunderbolt after being knocked of aim. Joe growled.

"Pippy, can you use a double team_ for_ Ralph?" He asked his Pikachu. Pippy looked at him, not only unsure what that would achieve but also where he could even do that. "It was just a question." Joe told him, seeing his bewildered expression. Tom raised Wartortle into the air above him, using both hands to keep him steady.

"Ice Beam!" He commanded over the roaring wind. Again the same aqua coloured light formed in Wartortle's mouth as it looked down at Joe and his Pokémon. The thin line of freezing ice shoot down sharply at them again. This time there was no way Ralph could avoid it. Without warning the beam hit him in the back, causing the area to freeze over suddenly. Ralph yelled in sudden surprising pain and dropped out the air, his wings freezing up beside him and his body dropping in angle. Joe grabbed him and Pippy at the same time and yanked up but Ralph couldn't stop the fall.

"Come on!" Joe shouted desperately, the ground beginning to get close again. "Fly up! Please!" he shouted, the sudden fear of heights came back. Ralph's wings finally defrosted just in the nick of time. He unfolded them, gave a huge flap and turned upwards, shooting just above the ground and back up into the sky, just avoiding being flattened against the pavement. They quickly regained height and joined back beside Tom. Joe whipped his brow, huffing with relief. "That was too close." He laughed; patting Ralph's side, kindly. "You're doing well, Ralph. Just keep going." Beside him he could hear Tom clapping his hands.

"Very nice." He complemented. "You really know what you're doing." Suddenly Fearow began to dive, shooting down below Ralph and Joe and through a cloud bank passing below them. All three over them looked around bellow but could not spot them.

"Keep your eyes open." Joe warned his team. For a few seconds nothing seemed to happen. Then quite suddenly out of the mist bellow burst forth the large ridden Fearow, Wartortle hanging on to its side as it flew directly upwards. As it passed Wartortle released a huge pump full of water from its mouth that hit Joe, Pippy and Ralph directly in the face. They held their arms up to protect themselves and Fearow flew up and past them, taking the lead now. Joe's clothes were soaked now and the cold air around them was not going to help them dry soon. He sighed, seeing Pippy shake the water of him and his fur go fuzzy and stand up like it had been charged with a lot more static than usual. Joe chuckled and gripped Ralph's side. "Let's get them back." He whispered. Ralph smiled and sped forwards, catching up with them in no time. Tom turned and was surprised to see Joe and Ralph directly behind them so quickly. He smiled at them and tapped Wartortle who spun around and readied another attack. "Ok Ralph, get ready to dodge." Joe told him. Ralph nodded. A split second later Wartortle shout out a jet of water which passed harmlessly by as Ralph rolled to the left out of the way. Pippy followed up firing a thunderbolt at Fearow and hitting its tail feathers. It squawked in surprise and stopped, trying to put out the small fire that Pippy had managed to start back there. It glared angrily at the trio and gave a loud caw of disapproval. Joe high fived Pippy. "Nice work." He congratulated him. Pippy smiled happily. He then gave him an expression that said 'I'd better get an apple for my good work.' Joe smiled, seeing his Pokémon's face. "Don't worry." He told him. "You'll get plenty of Apples. Pippy cheered with delight at this news. Then Joe saw Tom's face. He wasn't done yet.

"Don't get too cocky." He warned. "We may be close to Fuchsia city but we're not there yet. I've still got a chance to win as have you." As he finished saying so Fearow suddenly pulled up and glided upwards, doing a full circle around Ralph and landing back on the same level now behind them. All three of them looked back in surprise. Then Wartortle took the centre stage. It readied another ice beam and fired. Ralph dodged aside just in time, Joe narrowly avoiding being hit. They then realised that someone was missing.

"Pippy?" Joe called out, not seeing his Pikachu anywhere. He looked down over Ralph's side. His face turned to sudden horror. Pippy was falling out of the sky, a tiny yellow form towards the flat open ocean bellow them. "PIPPY!" Joe screamed, immediate panic spreading through his body. He grabbed Ralph's side and pushed him down. "DIVE!" He shouted, terrified for his friend's safety. Ralph didn't think twice. He folded in his wings and dropped out of the sky, diving straight towards the plummeting Pikachu.

Ralph was travelling the fasted he had ever gone just to reach his friend but Pippy had already fallen a great distance, curling up into a ball in an attempt to protect himself, not realising this was causing him to fall faster.

"Speed up, Ralph!" Joe shouted, fear for his friends life strengthening his voice. "We need to catch him before he hits the water." He instructed. Ralph sped up, flattening his entire body to an arrow point and ripping straight through the rising cold air like it was nothing. They were almost at sea level now. Pippy was only a few seconds away from hitting the writhing waves and being lost forever. Joe had to act quickly. "Get ready to pull!" He told Ralph has he suddenly stood up onto his legs and leant over the side. A second later he was gone, having jumped off arms first diving towards his falling Pikachu. Ralph continued to fly just behind him, the harness making sure that Joe was still attached. He shot downwards like a missile. Pippy was just in front of him now. He reached out with his open arms and quickly grabbed the small yellow and brown mouse just as Ralph suddenly turned up and began to fly forwards. This caused Joe to jolt suddenly as his falling was stopped by the harness, just inches away from the swirling waters. Quickly they were getting further away from the water as Ralph gained height and pulled them away to safety. "I've got you." Joe shouted as he held his grip on the small Pokémon. Pippy flailed around slightly, still feeling like he was falling. His eyes caught on Joe's smiling face and he slowly realised that he was safe in his hands. He smiled back at him, small joyous sparks escaping from his red cheeks. Joe cuddled him up to his chest and used his spare hand to grab the tether around his stomach. Slowly Joe began to pull himself and Pippy back up to Ralph above them. It took Joe a couple of seconds reach him. He raised his right hand up and grabbed Ralph's side. Pippy quickly scurried up his arm and sat safely on his back. Joe sighed, glad that his Pokémon was safe again. Suddenly he heard a light snap. He looked down and saw the elastic tether's last string snap away like a thin broken bone. It fell away and dangled limply bellow Ralph's stomach like a thin black umbilical cord, leaving Joe hanging unsafely from Ralph's side. Immediately he could feel his grip slipping against Ralph's dry skin. He tried to grab hold but there was nothing he could do to stop himself. Suddenly he was falling again, this time however he would not be stopped by the safety line. Ralph reacted quickly, diving back down and under Joe before he could even take a quick, empty breath. A few seconds later and Joe's fall was stopped. He opened his eyes again and looked around. He had landed safely on Ralph's back, unharmed and still breathing. He gasped in surprise and swallowed a huge lungful of air. Pippy was standing at his side, nudging his arm, caringly. He wanted to make sure his friend was ok. Joe smiled at him and sat up. He patted Pippy's small furry head and swung his leg over so he was sitting properly on Ralph's back now. He knelt forwards and hugged Ralph around the neck. "Thanks" He chuckled. Ralph smiled sheepishly back at him, giving a small humble guttural purr. Joe then sat up properly and pointed to the distant Fearow with Tom and Wartortle riding it. They were almost at Fuchsia city now. "We need to hurry!" Joe told his Pokémon. "They're almost there!" Ralph nodded. He didn't need telling twice. Suddenly the three of them shot of at incredible speeds. The world blurred into a multitude of colour, all blending together like a wet oil painting. The cold air turned into a gale as the atmosphere fought back against their flight. Joe and Pippy's faces were pulled back by the serious gusts attacking them, their wide mouths emitting diluted screams that were swept away by the wind as their ears were filled with its roaring disproval. Ralph seemed unaffected by the wind as he sped through cloud bank after cloud bank unfazed and unscathed. Quickly they were reaching their target but Tom was only inches away from the end now. "Pippy get ready." Joe called out. Pippy did so. As Tom and Fearow were about to reach the gate Ralph came up beside them. Tom and Wartortle stared in actual surprise as Joe and Pippy waved at them. Suddenly there was a flash of bright white light directly in front of them. Fearow skidded to a sudden stop as all three of them were blinded by the attack. Tom and Wartortle rubbed their eyes furiously. Pippy had released a blinding attack that had successfully stunned them.

"Blast!" Tom exclaimed, still rubbing his eyes. When he got his sight back a few seconds later he saw Ralph passing over the top of Fuchsia city's northwest gate. He saw Joe cheer with delight and raise his arms to the air. Again they had won and again Tom had lost. Tom thumbed Fearow's back angrily. "God damn it!" He exclaimed. Wartortle joined it, jumping up and down on Fearow's back. Fearow cawed in annoyance, both at loosing and at his trainer and friend attacking him like this. Slowly it began to fly them into the city, now no longer flying really fast but instead carefully. The race was over so there was no need to be quick. Both flying Pokémon slowly yet carefully landed in an open area of path inside fuchsia city's walls. Joe jumped off from Ralph's shoulders, helped Pippy down and then proceeded to undo the belts and harness around Ralph's body. Since the elastic rope had snapped it was pretty much useless now. Joe unclipped it and threw it aside, leaving it there for the rest of the day. He then proceeded to take of his goggles and extra belts and climbing hooks. As he was doing so Tom landed beside him atop his tired Fearow. He swung his legs over, slid of and helped his Wartortle down then proceeded to remove all his gear as well.

"That was one hell of a race." Joe told him, the energy running through his mind and body like a speeding train over the edge of a cliff. Tom looked at him, trying to look happy about his loss. He smiled, fake and walked over to his friend.

"You always seem to win whenever we challenge each other." Tom told him, giving a small fake laugh. He placed a hand on Joe's shoulder and gripped it tightly. Joe looked down at his hand. "I'm starting to wonder if maybe you're cheating." Tom thought aloud, trying to look suspicious of Joe. Joe looked up at his suspicious face.

"Of course I'm not." Joe told him honestly. It surprised him his friend could ever think something like that about him. "I just trained my Pokémon well. I gave them love and care and they won. That's all I've ever done." Tom raised an eyebrow, trying to look none believing.

"Really?" He asked, his suspicion obvious in his voice. Joe looked at him, concern starting to appear in his eyes.

"Yes." He told him, still sounding honest. "Why are you so suspicious?" He asked. Tom looked away suddenly, his face turning back to his normal friendly smile.

"Oh nothing." He lied through a cheeky grin. At that moment Winter and Rocky arrived, riding on the back of Rocky's onix, Crash. They slid quickly into town, digging up the ground slightly as they came. Behind them travelled a small group of angry people, upset that they had dug up the road. As they arrived they both jumped off from Crash's back and landed happily in front of Tom and Joe, smiles on both their faces.

"So who won?" Winter asked, excited. Joe raised his hand.

"We did." Joe told her. Winter smiled at him.

"Didn't doubt it for a second." She told him, rushing forwards and hugging him tightly, taking him by surprised. Rocky smiled to. Then his smile seemed to fade as for a split second he thought he could see disproval appearing on Tom's face, as though he wasn't happy that his friends had one. Joe uncomfortably pushed Winter away and she backed up, blushing slightly embarrassed. "Well done." She finished, coughing embarrassedly.

"Great race." Rocky joined in. "We saw you pass overhead at one point." Rocky told them. Joe smiled, looking back at his two Pokémon who were both smiling as well. Tom patted him on the shoulder again.

"Well I'd best get going, mate." He announced to the others sudden surprise.

"Going already." Winter asked. Tom nodded.

"Sorry but I've got things that need doing." Tom explained, walking back up to him Pokémon. "Professor Oak still needs my help and I've got important errands to run." He told them, placing a calm hand on Fearow's side. Fearow squawked defiantly. Tom laughed. "Don't worry." He whispered. "I won't get you to fly us there. You need a rest anyway." Fearow chirruped relieved. Tom whipped out its pokéball and quickly withdrew the exhausted Pokémon. He then did the same for Wartortle. Finally he released his Kadabra and grabbed hold of its free hand. "It was nice seeing you all again." He called out. "We should meet up again some time." He then whispered something into Kadabra's ear and within a second the two of them had suddenly disappeared in a puff of humid air. Joe, Ralph, Pippy, Winter, Rocky and Crash were left standing alone again in the centre of the city. They saw the town's people getting more and more agitated by the damage they had caused.

"We'd better clear this up." Rocky told them and immediately set his Pokémon onto doing so, releasing Chopper and Mina to help Crash dig the ground back up and keep it flat. Winter looked between Joe and Ralph. Joe had just withdrawn Pippy so he could get a quick rest.

"This may take a while." Winter told him. "Were you going to take on the gym today?" She then asked. Joe shook his head.

"No, I was going to give my team a rest for the rest of the day." He explained, patting Ralph's head. "They have earned it after all." He chuckled. Ralph however didn't seem to like this plan. He fluttered up behind Joe in a flash and immediately began pushing his forwards with his two large purple wings. Joe tried to fight back but Ralph was a lot stronger then he was. "Ralph?" Joe asked, surprised and also annoyed by his Pokémon's misbehaviour. "What are you doing?" He demanded. Ralph didn't listen. He just kept pushing Joe in the direction of the city's Pokémon gym. "I think he's eager to take on the gym leader." Joe shouted back to Winter as he got further away. "I'll see you guys later." Winter chuckled. She released her Staryu and her Horsea, River to help Rocky fix the road. As she looked back she saw Joe being pushing through the glass doorway by an overexcited Crobat.


	22. Chapter 22: The Trials of the Ninja

Ralph pushed his companion all the way across town till they reached the large glass sliding doors of the gym. Joe stood there, Ralph guarding behind him looking in through the glass in front of him.

"You're really eager today, aren't you?" Joe laughed. Ralph nodded. He knew something neither Joe nor his friends knew. He had been visited by a Golbat the previous night who told him in five days then a very bad man was going to arrive in Kanto. Ralph knew exactly who it was. He also knew that he needed to train Joe up quickly so if they ran into him he would be ready to fight him. This man was definitely not to be messed with, especially by such a young trainer. Joe turned around and tried to push him back. "Ralph, we've just arrived here after flying all the way from Celadon. Are you sure you're not tired?" Joe asked him. Ralph shook his head. There was no time to rest. They needed to get this gym done and move on as soon as possible. Joe shrugged his shoulders. "Alright." He gave in. "If you're sure." He turned back around and faced the large glistening glass doors. He raised his hands and pushed on the glass, sending them flying open. Slowly the duo walked inside.

The second they walked inside the both of them found themselves neck deep in thick black mist that appeared to come out of nowhere. The mist blocked out any and all light that may have been in the room. Joe coughed; the smoke catching in his lungs and making him feel like they were full of thick black tar. He coughed again and tried to swipe the mist away. Ralph too coughed and used his large purple wings to create a small clear area of air. The two of them looked around but could hardly see anything. Surprisingly enough even though there was a huge amount of smoke there was no obvious cause of it. There was no visible fire and Joe couldn't feel any warmth nearby.

"What is going on here?" He asked, covering his mouth. "What's causing this mist?" He looked at Ralph who was also covering his mouth. He didn't know any more than he did. Suddenly there was a flash of bright purple and green light from all around the room and the mist began to thin. Slowly it faded away into the air and disappeared completely, leaving the usual gym interior visible to see. It looked to be a usual gym with one major difference; the walls were coated with a thick layer of purple paint. At the far end of the huge hall was a podium where the gym leader would stand waiting… except currently they were not standing there. Joe looked around but as far as he could tell no one else was inside the building. But for the gym to have been open it would have needed the gym leader to be in the building. He took a couple of cautious steps forwards until he reached the edge of the battlefield. He tapped his foot twice subconsciously and continued to look around. "Doesn't look like anyone's here." He muttered. At that very moment a figure in black and purple ninja cladding dropped down from the ceiling above them and landed five feet away from them. Joe jumped in surprise and took a couple of steps backwards. The figure seemed to chuckle.

"Relax already." They said, their voice muffled by their ninja mask. The figure then reached up for their mask and slid it of carefully. Joe gasped a little surprised. Before him stood a girl, about the same age as him, maybe even a little younger. She had pointed black hair held in a bunch by a white hair band and her pail white skin shone in the coloured light, making her look ghostly and spectral. Her black sleeveless skin tight body suit was held in place by a thin white belt around her waist and a long red cape flailed behind her in the room's fanning system. On her shoulder curled a small purple and yellow Ekans which slithered down her arm and curled up at the end of her wrist, watching the new visitors. She stood there for a couple of seconds seemingly watching the duo standing before her. She lifter her shoulder questioningly. "Well what do you want?" She asked them, seeing Joe's surprised expression. Joe shook his head trying to wake himself up, still a little stunned by her sudden entry.

"Uh, Sorry." He muttered, sounding like he'd just woken up. "I came here to challenge the gym leader." He explained after a couple of seconds. "Are you the gym leader?" He asked. The girl didn't nod.

"Yes, that is I" She replied in a dark, monotone voice. "I am Janine, the poison type ninja." She announced. Joe sighed gratefully.

"Ok then." He clapped his hands together. "Shaw we get straight to battling then?" Joe asked. The girl, Janine, seemed to look confused at him.

"Straight to battling?" She repeated. She shook her head. "No I didn't plan to do any of that." Joe and Ralph both gave her a confused expression.

"But you're the gym leader, aren't you." Joe told her. "Isn't it your job to battle challengers?" Janine shrugged her shoulders.

"In a way yes." She admitted. "But a simple battle does not always provide the challenge you may see. My father, the previous gym leader, Koga, always taught me that to provide a real challenge to an opponent ninja you must test his skills to the fullest." She raised her hand up, Ekans' head sitting on the top happily. "So I will not battle you." She continued. She took a heavy breath and began to speak again. "Instead I shall provide you with four trials. Each of these trials will require one Pokémon to complete them." She brought her arm back down and held them both out to her side, her cape rustling in the grip of her right hand. "The trials shall be of Speed, Accuracy, Evasion and Endurance. The four attributes that a true ninja must learn in order to become a master." She lowered her arms again. Joe just looked at her, still rather confused.

"I didn't come here to become a master ninja." Joe explained, simply. "I came here to fight the gym leader having a normal three verses three Pokémon battle. Why can we not simply do that?" He asked. Janine laughed to herself. Ekans joined in, hissing and shaking the rattle on its tail.

"Trainer I do not simply battle my challengers." Janine explained simply. "A gym leader must test their challengers. They must make sure that they are ready to take on the next in the line. If you cannot defeat my trial then you cannot take on the sixth gym leader after me. Simple." She turned her back to him. Joe sighed. Taking a trial sounded like it would take way to long. But seeing as how it was the only way Janine was willing to accept his challenge.

"All right." He agreed after a few seconds. "I'll take this trial." He agreed. Janine smiled maliciously.

"Good." She told him.

"What is it I need to do, anyway?" Joe asked. The second he did so Janine lent down and placed her arm with Ekans curled up it to the ground. The small snake Pokémon slithered up and curled up on the floor, its head lying on top waiting for the command. She turned back to Joe.

"First, the Trial of Speed. Choose one Pokémon then ready up. You have one minute" She turned back around and walked over to the right side podium on the field. Joe looked at Ralph. There was no real choice in the matter. Ralph was his fastest Pokémon.

"I am ready." He told her, walking up to his own podium.

Janine watched the two of her opponents preparing themselves then step forwards and join her on the opposite side of the field.

"So are you ready?" She asked them. Joe nodded.

"Yes." He told her.

"You picked four Pokémon, one for each challenge." She reminded him. Joe thought for a second.

"Yes." He repeated. Janine nodded.

"Who is your first Pokémon?" She asked him. Joe looked at Ralph, their eyes meeting.

"Ralph here shall be first." He told her. Ralph took his place in front of Joe, ready on the battlefield. Janine looked him up and down.

"A Crobat." She noted, a half smile appearing on her face. "My dad has one of them. Best poison type he ever used he used to say." Joe looked at her, a little surprised by her comment.

"What does your father do?" He asked her.

"He's one of the elite four for Johto. Poison types, like me. I took his place here of course." She waved her cloak over the side of her face. "Enough talk. We fight." Ekans uncurled suddenly and leaned up on his rear tail, head swaying in the air almost hypnotically. "Trial one; the trial of Speed!" Janine announced, raising her arm, a finger pointing at Ralph. Her eyes narrowed as she glared at her oppose. Joe glared back. A smile grew on both their faces. Then Janine made the first move. "Ekans, Wrap!" She commanded. Immediately Ekans lunged forwards, moving at surprising speed straight towards the unwary Ralph in front of him.

"Look out." Joe called out, seeing the snapping fangs of the long purple snake getting closer. Ralph saw it sliding up in the corner of his eyes and before anyone knew what was happening he had shot up into the air narrowly avoiding being bitten on the side. Janine's Ekans looked around for a second before finally seeing Ralph high above it. It coiled around again then uncoiled, shooting up into the air and narrowly missing Ralph's wing as he dived aside to avoid the attack. Ralph flew backwards out of range then released a blast of cutting air, battering Ekans for a few seconds and leaving it wounded. Ekans shot after him and jumped again, this time biting Ralph's left wing and pulling him down slightly. Ralph winced and looked at the mark. It hurt but it wasn't serious. He quickly returned to the battle and saw that Ekans was coming back around, sliding along really quickly toward his rear. As it shot through the air he spun around and lashed out with his right wing. As the two met his wing tip slashed into the side of Ekans' mouth and scrapped down his left side all the way to the tip of its tail. Ekans curled up in mid air and landed in a painful heap on the floor. It took a couple of seconds to recuperate then slowly lifted its head up and began moving again.

"Whittle it down with Acid!" Janine instructed. Ekans gulped and its cheeks began to expand slightly as they filled with venomous liquid. Then it opened its mouth and spat the body acid in Ralph's direction. It coated him in slow melting goo which he desperately tried to shake off. He scratched at himself as the goo patiently dissolved his skin. After a few seconds Ralph had managed to remove most of the substance from his hide only to see Ekans sailing towards his face, jaw snapped open to bite into his skin. Its fangs sunk into his large snout-less face as Ralph screamed in agony. He tried to shake it off but Ekans swung its tail around and wrapped its free body around Ralph's, covering his eyes in the process. The two Pokémon stumbled around in the air, desperately trying to remove the other. It was like watching a violent yet entrancing dance. After a couple of seconds of this Joe realised that Ralph wasn't going to be able to get out of Ekans' grip on his own.

"Ralph, stop moving." He instructed. Ralph did so. He stood perfectly still, his wings lightly flapping keeping him up in the air. "Now, use air cutter." Joe continued. Ralph snarled and gave a huge flap of his wings, sending a rough gust of wind slicing through the air and knocking Ekans of his face. Janine's Ekans sailed across the room and crash landed on the floor only a few feet away from Janine's feet. It wriggled slightly, trying to get back up to fight, but finally gave up and flopped unconsciously to the floor. Janine quickly withdrew it and sighed.

"Good work, girl." She told it as she did so. She then clipped the ball back to her belt and pulled out another pokéball. She looked back up at Joe and Ralph and gave a smirking smile. "Okay so you won the Speed trial." She admitingly congratulated. "But you've still got three more to take on and you must win at least three of them to earn the badge." Joe nodded.

"I think I can do that." He told her "I've already won my first trial and I have faith in my team." Janine smiled to herself.

"They'll only get tougher and tougher." She replied. "I can promise you that." As she said it she released her second Pokémon. As the ball snapped open and the red beam light appeared a fat, purple smoking Koffing appeared floating in the air on its own nauseous gasses. Janine began speaking again. "Trail 2; the trial of Accuracy." She told him, watching their every move. "You'll need to change to your next Pokémon now." She added. Ralph readied his guard to fight. Then he saw Joe reaching for a new pokéball.

"Ralph, time to swap out." He told him. Ralph looked at the floor, sadly. Then he slowly took his place back beside his trainer. Joe released his second Pokémon, his Charmeleon, Cinders, the best candidate for taking this challenge due to his smokescreen move and room engulfing flamethrower. Cinders and Koffing squared each other off for a couple of seconds before finally one of them made a move. Cinders jumped forwards and lashed out with a slashing claw. Koffing immediately reacted by releasing a huge black smoke plume from the large orifices on its suddenly deflating body. The smokescreen filled up 12 cubic feet of battlefield around it, leaving Cinders to dive straight inside the smoke and miss his target. He stumbled around blindly in the smog till finally he found his way out the other side only to see the smoke clearing behind him and Koffing waiting for him in its centre. "Flamethrower!" Joe called. Cinders took in a heavy breath then released a huge tower of red hot flame. The fire burned up the remaining smoke and spread across the room engulfing Koffing in its wake. To his surprise however when the fire died away koffing was still levitating where it had been, hardly scratched by the attack.

"Double Team!" Janine commanded. Koffing began to grow out sideways until two blurred images of itself appeared beside it, then two more, then two more. This kept going until there was a huge ring of Koffings surrounding Cinders. He looked at each of them, unable to pick out which koffing was the real one. He lashed out at one with his claws but it faded away in a puff of purple smoke.

"Use Metal Claw on the real one, Cinders." Joe shouted to him. Cinders raised a shining silver claw and slashed down at one of the images, causing it to vanish as well. He lashed out at a couple more when he was suddenly hit in the back by the real Koffing. Cinders spun around and shot a small puff of fire in the direction that the attack had come from. The ember hit another image and caused it to fade away like the others. Suddenly the entire ring of Koffings filled with thick black smoke and left both Pokémon unable to see. Cinders lashed out around him, hoping to hit his opponent. After a couple of seconds he released another wave of flame which ignited the smoke around it and caused the entire ring to fill with fire. Every single one of the koffing images disappeared suddenly and the real Koffing was buffeted around by the fire now hitting it. It grumbled annoyed as it finally stopper rolling around in the air and slowly began to glow. It inflated until it was double the size it has originally been. Finally when it couldn't inflate any further it released a large purple cloud of acidic gas which spread out as a thin slick around it. The thin wave spread out further and further. Cinders looked at the purple smog heading towards him and covered his mouth as it passed over him. If he didn't breath in the gas it wouldn't poison him. As the gas passed him by he uncovered his mouth again and lashed out at Koffing again, bringing his sharp claw down in a slashing motion. Hit attack hit koffing and knocked it back but it managed to withstand most of the damage. It replied by floating forwards and trying to hit Cinders with its side. Cinders rammed into it with his shoulder and the two were locked in a contest of strength.

"Explode!" Janine commanded suddenly. The words immediately alerted Joe awake. He saw Koffing begin to glow suddenly while he was pushing against Cinders.

"Get back!" Joe shouted to Cinders. Cinders struck Koffing it the face with a claw and it floated backwards a few steps. It then began to float quite quickly back towards the Charmeleon. "Use smoke screen to blind it!" Joe instructed. As Koffing was about to explode Cinders let out a long plume of smoke from its maw and the air around it turned thick and black. Koffing kept going, believing that its target would still be in the same place. It reached the centre of the smoke plume and from outside piercing light beams could be seen penetrating out of the cloud. There was a sudden burst of light and sound as the entire room shook with the sound and force of the explosion. The smoke was immediately scattered by the force and at the centre of where the cloud had been was the unconscious form of Janine's Koffing. Cinders however was not there. He was watching calmly from the side of the ring which he'd run to when Koffing had exploded, narrowly missing being badly hurt by the attack. He was in a bad way thought and was clearly only just standing up. Janine pulled out the pokéball and withdrew her Koffing from the field.

"You beat my second Pokémon all right." She told Joe who was busy congratulating his Charmeleon. "But you've still got two more Pokémon to beat." She reminded him. She then pulled out her third pokéball. Joe withdrew Cinders and quickly prepared for his next Pokémon to fight. "Trial Three; the trial of Evasion." She told him. She readied the pokéball in her hand.

Joe threw out his third Pokémon, shouting "Go, Pippy" as he did so. Pippy appeared on the battlefield, ready to fight. Erika followed suit with her third Pokémon.

"Go, Beedrill." She called, releasing her third Pokémon. Joe seemed to freeze where he stood. Her Beedrill looked so similar to Sting. The memory of his Pokémon began to flood back into his thoughts. The good times they had had, the battles they had won, the day he had passed away. Joe closed his eyes. He tried not to think about it anymore. Pippy and Ralph looked at their trainer and then to each other. They too were trying not to think about their lost friend. Pippy stepped up to fight. Beedrill looked down at him and readied its drills.

"Ok then." Janine spoke. "Let us continue." She raised her fist to the air. "Beedrill, twin needle!" she commanded. Beedrill shot forward at incredible speed towards Pippy, both stingers pointed. Pippy stalled for a moment unsure what to do. He waited for his trainer's command. Joe however wasn't paying attention. He was staring at the oncoming Beedrill heading straight towards him. Memories began to reform in front of his eyes. He saw his own Beedrill again fighting Gordon of Pewter City's Sandshrew. Sting swung his drill out and hit it in the chest, knocking it instantly unconscious. He suddenly snapped back to reality and realised that Janine's Beedrill had just done the same attack, hitting Pippy in the stomach and knocking him across the field. Fortunately he was still conscious so the battle could continue.

"Pippy." Joe called to his injured Pikachu lying on his belly across the field. "I'm sorry. I lost concentration." He apologised. Pippy looked back at him, forgiveness in his eyes. He pushed himself onto his feet again and readied to keep fighting. Janine and Beedrill were waiting for them at their own podium. She saw that they were ready to continue and waved a hand to Beedrill. She may be strict with her battle style but she believed in a fare fight. She always gave her opponent a chance, no matter how tough they were.

"Beedrill, use your Agility!" She commanded. Beedrill began to flex its muscles and then started to jitter around, shuffling side to side like a saw on wood, getting ever faster.

"Alright Pippy" Joe began to instruct. Pippy turned back to him sitting on his hind legs, his ears pricked up. "Use your thunderbolt attack when its charging and you might hit it." Pippy nodded and dropped back onto all fours, arching his back, ready to send a powerful bolt of lightning down it. Beedrill tapped its arm stingers together in anticipation.

"Pursuit" Janine commanded after a couple of seconds. Beedrill's antennae twitched as it heard its command and it buzzed forwards, drills points forwards. Instead of flying in a straight line it zigzagged about, dodging the possibility of being hit by an attack. Pippy tried to aim its attack but every shot he made would miss it by only a couple of inches at least. One shot nearly hit its mark, just scrapping the edge of Beedrill's wing as it slide to the right a few feet away from Pippy. The next action made after that was Beedrill lashing out with his stingers. Pippy jumped aside and nearly evaded its attack but one stinger prodded him in the leg and spread its venom into him. He landed uncomfortably on three legs, lifting the forth numbly over the ground as the heel swelled up and filled with pain. He winced and painful tears began to boil on his face as the static in his cheeks heated them above 100 degrees. He glanced up through squinted eyes to see Beedrill returning to Janine's side. She seemed to have called him back to stop him from keeping his attack on Pippy. It was almost mocking how she was beating him yet also sparing him.

"It's ok, Pippy." Joe continued to encourage. "You can still do it. Create a Substitute and make it tougher for it to land a hit on you." Pippy grumbled. The pain in his leg was growing rapidly as the poison began to spread. In a few minutes or so he'd fall unconscious if he didn't act quickly. He managed to keep himself standing and began to create the weird looking doll copy of himself from his body and placed it in front of himself. He then created a ring of images around the field that would make it even tougher for Beedrill to land its attack. Janine pointed into the ring and Beedrill began to flitter forward. It stopped dead centre inside the circle, the many moving images of Pikachu surrounding it.

"Focus on the real one." Janine instructed. This was not easily done as Beedrill wasn't able to see or sense which Pippy was real. Suddenly its antennae shot up and its eyes focused at one image in particular. It had finally sensed where Pippy was hiding. Janine smiled to herself.

"Now use Fury Attack" she commanded. Beedrill buzzed up to him, pulled back a stinger and jabbed it at Pippy's heart. It struck again with its other hand, hitting him in the collar. Its jabbing hands became a flurry as it kept pilling attack upon attack. Pippy hardly seemed to flinch at these attacks. Suddenly another small yellow mouse like figure jumped out from behind the opponent. As it did so the figure that Beedrill had assumed to be Pippy disintegrated into dust before its eyes. The real Pippy sailed over its head, curled up into a ball and passed by in seconds. Beedrill watched him with stunned eyes. As he began to fall again Pippy uncurled himself to reveal a small ball of charged electricity gripped against his stomach. He suddenly released the ball and a large thunderbolt shot from its centre, hitting Beedrill square in the heart. It was knocked head over heels as the bolt hit home and landed painfully on its back. When the bolt hit it Joe found himself recalling the day Sting was killed. He was standing a few metres away from the event, seeing Sting standing in front of Ralph. In slow motion the bullet shot forward and struck him in the chest, piercing his heart. His mortally wounded body twitched backwards slightly as thin green-brown blood began to ooze from the wound. Joe reached out a hand to grab him and save him. He found himself calling out in fear, desperate fear to save his friend.

"STING!" he screamed suddenly. The entire room looked at him in surprise. As the real world came back to him in a sudden flash he realised that he had shouted out in real life. He looked out to see his hand reaching out for the now recovering Beedrill which Janine commanded. It, like everyone else, was staring at him in surprise and confusion. Pippy looked sadly at his trainer. Maybe it wasn't a good idea for Joe to battle a Beedrill so soon after all. He himself was finding it tough to fight an enemy that looked so much like an old friend. Ralph put a limp wing on Joe's shoulder. Joe looked at him and saw the genuine concern in his eyes. He gently pushed his wing of his shoulder and looked at the floor. "It's ok." He told him quietly, not actual sounding too certain about his words. "I'm fine."

"Are you ready to keep battling?" Janine asked him from across the room. Joe nodded back to her.

"Yes." He called to her. "I'll be ok." He looked to Pippy who was standing just in front of Beedrill. He looked to him concerning and questing. "Are you ok?" He asked him. Pippy nodded. He was ready to fight. His trainer on the other hand still looked like he was suffering. Beedrill turned around and looked to its trainer. It waited for the command to keep fighting. Janine pumped her hand and kept her fist readied in the air.

"Beedrill, Double Team." She instructed. Beedrill began to form into multiple figures which spread out and rotated around Pippy, encasing him in a ring of black and yellow. They seemed to be buzzing a song as they circled. It sounded a bit like a rap, two buzzes high, and two buzzes low, continuously. Pippy looked from image to image. Considering that he knew this move and had used it several times before he thought he would have known how to tell the difference between the fake Beedrill and the real Beedrill. As it turned out it was a lot tougher then it had seemed. Each image looked exactly the same when they were moving so fast. He would have to judge which was real and work on instinct. Suddenly he saw a steel grey spike slashing down through the air towards him out of the corner of his eye. He jumped aside just as Beedrill's drill hit the ground where he had been standing and retreat back into the mirages around him. Pippy span around in a circle, keeping his eyes out for any more attacks while still trying to spot the real Beedrill. Another attack came flying out of nowhere, nearly hit Pippy's ear had he not been quick enough to duck underneath it. The stinger retreated back into its hiding place. Suddenly Beedrill itself burst out from the images of itself and flew drills pointed at Pippy. Pippy make a quick decision and went with it. He jumped forwards, head lowered to slam into Beedrill's chest. Their eyes met as they both collided with one another. As their mass, weight and gravity battled each other over who had more in a split second, the two Pokémon were frozen in mid air at the point their two bodies met. A split second later Beedrill went sailing backwards into the far way. Pippy's attack had been surprisingly much stronger than any of them could have imagined. Pippy landed back onto his four feet again, the energy of the attack running from ear tips to toes. Suddenly his weight seemed to increase and found himself falling under his own weight. The poison was too much now it, along with the attack he had just made had sapped all the strength from his legs and body. Slowly he slid to the floor and lay there still but conscious. Joe immediately acted. He ran towards Pippy like a train through a station and skidded on his knees towards the injured Pikachu. He scooped him up in his and held him like a babe in arms.

"Pippy?" He asked, concerned. "Pippy, can you hear me?" He shook him lightly. Pippy's eyes slowly opened again. He didn't look well at all. His face had gone a sickly green and small purple bubbles began to float out of his mouth. His poisoned wound looked inflamed and the blood vessels running down it were bulging out through the skin in a nasty shade of purple. Joe sighed, sadly. Pippy raised a small paw up to touch Joe's cheek but it waived about in the air like he was trying to swat a fly. Joe assumed he had either begun to hallucinate or was seeing double. "It's pretty bad." Joe realised, looking down at his little friend. Pippy smiled weakly. Joe pulled out his pokéball from his belt. "You nearly won out there." Joe told him. "But never mind. We'll get her next time." With that he withdrew his Pokémon and let his arms drop to his side. Janine withdrew her Beedrill but stood her ground. Joe raised his hands. "Ok, you won. I wasn't ready." He admitted. Janine looked at him, not too sure she understood him.

"What are you talking about?" She asked him. Joe looked up again.

"I lost one of your trials. That means I'm not worthy of the badge doesn't it?" He explained. Janine chuckled at his humbleness.

"I said you need to win all four trials yes." She agreed. "But I am the gym leader. I get to decide if you passed or not." Joe gave her an unsure expression. "The moment your Pokémon performed that substitute-Double Team move I knew It should win that challenge. And as well as that he did successfully dodge a lot of Beedrill's moves."

"So wait. What are you saying?" Joe asked, unsure he understood. "Are you saying you're giving me that win because I did well enough and not because my Pokémon beat yours?" He translated. Janine neither nodded nor shook her head.

"Your Pippy was evasive enough to pass on his own rights. Your loss came from an unlucky poisoning and some emotional trouble you are clearly suffering from." She deduced. "You would have won otherwise. It is my choice as gym leader to give you that win. I feel you definitely earned it. You have beaten three trails..." She held out a hand, more to point rather than grab. "Now only one remains." She continued.

"The Trial of Endurance" Joe continued for her. He pulled out the final Pokémon of choice's pokéball. Pitt was up next. Joe looked back up to Janine who was nodding. He had got it right.

"I will say now if your Pokémon faints then you will fail this time." She reminded him. "The idea of this trial is that your Pokémon must survive longer than mine. If I let you off with fainting because you showed potential it would be not only ridiculous but it would also be cheating and I'd lose my title as leader." Joe nodded. He understood completely.

"Alright then." He announced new confidence in him now that he had been given that encouragement and that her Beedrill was gone as well.

"Final Trial:" Janine spoke. "The Trial of endurance. Begin!" She raised her final pokéball and threw it into the field. "Go, Weezing" she cried. As the ball burst open a large, bulky Pokémon became visible. It was clearly an evolution of Koffing as it was the same colour, same body shape and had the same gas spewing from the bulging holes across its body. It was at least twice the size of koffing however and it had a larger mouth with two small sharp fangs poking out. That was just the main head. There were two other heads attached to its left side, both maybe a little smaller then a Koffing. The one at the front had a much smaller face and didn't have the grey skull pattern in its belly. The back head was hardly a head at all. It didn't have a face or eyes or pattern or even gas holes to keep it up. It was more like an outside of the head giant sickly purple tumour. Both of these heads were attached by a thick layer of skin to the main body. Joe looked disgusted at the form.

"That's nasty!" He exclaimed in disgust."

"Hey, watch what you're saying." Janine snapped at him. "You'll hurt Wheezy's feelings. Joe smirked slightly. The Weezing grumbled upset. He apologised.

"I'm sorry." He told it. Wheezing grumbled appreciatively.

"Now your Pokémon." Janine reminded him. Joe realised and readied his pokéball.

He threw it through the air, crying "Go Pitt." The large, turquoise form of his Ivysaur grew into view from within the fading red light. The final Trial had begun.

Winter and Rocky had now finished their job of fixing the road after their grand entrance a half an hour ago. They both stood to the side looking at their handiwork, their Pokémon resting beside them. Rocky rested his arms on his side.

"I think we've done a pretty good job of this" he announced. Where the road had been dug up by his Onix was now a long, brown-grey scar running down the path in a slightly jagged straight line. The cut had been healed up using Winters water Pokémon who created a river of boiling water to run down the path while Rocky's Cubone and Machop moved heavy lumps of mud into the gap and fixed it up. The water fussed the dirt to the concrete and made is solid. It would be ok to walk on now; they'd just have to make sure not to get Crash to run over it at high speeds again.

"Yeah." Winter agreed, not sounding as pleased by her work as he was. They stood there for a couple more seconds.

"Should we go see how Joe's doing?" Winter asked, remembering they had left their friend to take on the gym leader. Rocky looked to her.

"We could I suppose." He agreed unsure. "But I imagine he's almost finished by now. We'll probably only catch the last few minutes."

"Neither the less..." Winter added. "We should still go to give him our support." Rocky sighed and raised his shoulders.

"Alright" he shrugged. "Let's go watch."

The two of them walked in to the gym just as the last battle was about to begin. The glass doors slid open and the two kids walked inside. On the battlefield Pitt the Ivysaur was standing on Joe's side, readying his vines to lash and attack when needed. His opponent was a large, purple, unhappy looking Weezing that levitated on the leader's side of the field. The leader herself had trained her eyes on the two of now, seeing them enter the room and watching the field.

"If you two have come to challenge me you're going to have to wait." She shouted to them. Clearly she had assumed they were trainers like Joe. "I'm currently in the middle of a battle at the moment." She continued. Winter shook her hands, realising her mistake.

"No. You misunderstand." She told her politely. "We're not here to challenge you. We came to watch our friends battle." Janine looked from them to Joe.

"Oh." She replied. "Right. Well the benches at the side will be where you can watch from." She told them.

"Thank you." Rocky said, raising an open hand in a way of being polite. The two of them quickly took their seats at the sides, watching the fight that was about to unfold. Janine looked back to Joe.

"Your friends take their time in turning up to watch you battle." Janine said quietly. Joe returned his gaze.

"They were held up." He explained. "By road works." Janine nearly laughed at this.

"Well now they have the privilege of watching two powerful trainers compete." She told him. She raised her hand forward."Let the Trail begin."

Joe made his first move.

"Pitt, use Leech Seed!" He instructed. Pitt did so, firing a clump of small fat plant seeds from his bulb and sending them shooting towards Weezing. A large amount of the seeds hit home, landing on Weezings tough shell and taking root. Soon they would start sapping its health. Janine seemed to like his decision in using that move.

"Good planning." She congratulated him, lightly clapping her hands together. "Slowly sapping away my Pokémon's health, giving you a higher chance of success. An admirable tactic." She stopped clapping now. She pointed to Pitt and began to instruct. "Weezing, smokescreen." She told it. Weezing closed its mouths then breathed out a heavy cloud of deep black smoke. The smoke spread its way across the field and covered it in a blackness deeper then the darkest night. After a couple of seconds it covered the entire pitch. Pitt coughed and tried to clear some of the smoke away with his vines.

"Vine Whip!" Joe instructed. Pitt's vines shot out at command and aimed at the huge purple form.

"Dodge them!" Janine instructed. Weezing shot to the right, narrowly missing being hit by Pitt's vines. "Now use Sludge!" Janine shouted again." Weezing opened its large mouth and a heavy collection of sloppy slimy sludge came flying out from within. The goo sailed through the air and his Pitt, covering him in the sticky substance. It did a little damage to him but he seemed to resist most of its effects.

"Return the attack with Razor Leaf" Joe instructed. Pitt released a small flurry of crescent leaves in Weezings direction. They successfully hit, cutting at its fat side. Janine cursed.

"Tackle!" She shouted. Weezing lowered its head s and charged in to ram into Pitt.

"Tackle!" Joe shouted, just a couple of seconds after she did, to Pitt. Pitt to charged forwards at a slow gallop as he was too big to move really fast. The two Pokémon met at the centre of the field in the thick smoke and collided with one another. They smashed their heavy bulks together and tried to push the other back. Neither of them seemed movable, however as they were left in a stalemate for a couple of seconds to follow. "Ready a Solarbeam!" Joe instructed to Pitt. Pitt growled and the flowering bulb on its back began to glow with green light at the tip. He angled it against Janine's Weezing which he was still pushing against. Joe held his command to fire, waiting for the best opportunity. Weexing was beginning to become tired. Both Pokémon were running out of energy and one of them needed to make the final move. Suddenly Weezing puffed back a little, halting its attack. Now was Joe's chance. "NOW!" He shouted. Pitt aimed his attack and released, sending a huge beam of bright green light roaring through the air and heading straight for Weezing.

"Quickly, use Sludge Bomb!" Janine instructed at the last minute. Weezing fired a long gooey plume of slime from its mouth just as the Solarbeam hit it in the face and sent it spinning around the pitch. The Sludge bomb meanwhile was flying straight towards Pitt. It hit the floor in front of him and exploded with a loud bang, sending slimy purple poisonous liquid everywhere for miles. Pitt was covered in the stuff and he recoiled, causing a lot of his attack to miss its aim. He coughed as some of the liquid landed in his mouth and tried to wipe it off his tongue with one foot. Joe slapped a fist against his palm, annoyed. Janine's Weezing meanwhile seemed to be recovering from its hit and was already back to fight again.

"How can I beat it?" He wondered quietly. Then he remembered the Leech Seed. He didn't necessarily have to take it down with an attack. All he needed to do was stall it long enough and it would run out of energy, causing it to faint. He looked back to his Pokémon. "Pitt." He called. "Use your Synthesis!" Pitt wasn't too sure how to do that. Joe had assumed that by now Pitt would have known how to use a healing move like that. Pitt tried so anyway. He spread out the leaves on his back underneath his bud and they began to glow with a light green shade of light. The leaves began to collect as much light as they could, restoring Pitt's health a bit and ensuring his likelihood of winning. Weexing grumbled annoyed.

"Tackle again, Weezing." Janine commanded. Weezing began to float at a not very fast speed towards Pitt again, ready to ram him with its side.

"Now's your chance, Pitt." Joe instructed. "Grab it with your vines!" He told him. Pitt was surprised by his command but followed his orders anyway. He shot out the long fat ended creepers from under his plant bulb back and they sped forwards towards Weezing and began to wrap around the smaller parts of its body. "Now lift it up!" Joe instructed again. Pitt did so. His vines yanked upwards and held Weezing dangling in the air. It moaned and wheezed angrily, trying to wriggle its way free. Pitt's eyes narrowed and his lashed his vines, releasing Weezing from his grip and throwing him down to the ground. Weezing landed painfully with a heavy thud on its side. It grumbled and began pushing itself back into the air with its body gasses. Pitt roared in excite and Joe punched the air, glad that he was taking back the win. Pitt felt a very light yanking sensation on his spine leaves. He looked back to see them growing out a little, becoming larger and flatter. His eyes widened in surprise as the leaf resting on his head grew out and shaded the top completely. Joe watched too, not sure what to make of the weird transformation. The bulb on Pitts back began to shudder; a couple of small red petals began to fall away. Suddenly the bud blossomed, snapping open wide suddenly and revealing a large, beautiful red flower head with small white spots across each of the huge thin petals. Pitt gasped, as did the rest of the audience watching. The floor around him began to fill with small red petals. They built up a circular line around him which slowly grew up but not out. As it got higher up it began to turn inwards, slowly forming a semicircle over Pitt. He looked up, watching the petals form from out of his flower head. His face was that of overjoyed. He knew what was happening. It was finally time to evolve again. Joe and Ralph watched in genuine surprise. Pitt was about to reach his final step on his evolutionary line. Suddenly the large wall of petals burst open and the petals floated away and dissolved with a peaceful whoosh of air. No explosion, pop or bang came from within when it opened. Only the calm tranquillity of nature which Pitt grew from. As the final petals fell away to dust Joe could see what his first starter Pokémon had become. Where Pitt had been stood was no longer the still young Ivysaur. Now stood there a huge, fully evolved male Venusaur. He looked exactly the same as his grandmother did, tall and wide with fat stumpy legs that held up a huge bulk of a body. His skin was now just plain turquoise coloured as the dark blue spots had faded away. His face was flat and his eyes were small. His large mouth seemed to take up a lot of his head and he now had two small but pointy triangular ears on each side of his head. The biggest change however would be with the plant on his back. As well as it flowering it had grown to cover almost the entirety of his back. The head now sat at the top of a small but thick palm like tree. The bottom of the tree was surrounded by long, flat palm leaves which hid the rest of Pitt's upper body from sight. As he burst from the sphere of petals he roared like a monster and took a lugging step out, the ground shaking a little under his weight. He was huge now, even taller than Joe and Ralph. Janine laughed in delight. She was amazed to be able to see such a sight. The final evolution of a starter Pokémon was truly incredible. Weezing cowered away, the Pokémon which it had been the same size as before was now twice the size of him. Pitt glared at him in the distance, his eyes narrowing to a slit. He began to growl.

"Ve… Nu… Saur!" He roared at it. Weezing backed up completely. Joe cheered with sudden delight, his mind now deciding how he should react. He ran up and patted Pitt on the pack. Pitt rubbed his head against Joe's side affectionately. He felt so alive suddenly.

"This is amazing." Joe gasped. "A Venusaur already." He laughed, patting Pitt's tough back. "I really trained you well, didn't I." Pitt made a light happy grumbling sound from his mouth. Then they both remembered that the battle wasn't over yet. "This should be easy now." Joe whispered in Pitt's ear. Pitt seemed to agree, giving a quiet snicker to himself. Joe took his position back by his podium and raised a hand out. "Pitt, show us what you can do now!" Joe instructed to him. Pitt raised a foot and smashed it back onto the floor. The tiles underneath cracked under his weight and the floor began to shake slightly. Pitt smashed another foot down and the ground shook even more. He kept doing so and the ground shook wildly. The earthquake he had created buffeted Weezing around where it was trying to hide. It took a serious amount of damage from this. "So you know Earthquake now."" Joe noted. "That may come in useful." He raised his hand again. "Now finish it with Solarbeam!" Joe shouted. Pitt knelt down onto his front legs and aimed his flower head at Weezing. The tip glowed and a huge green beam of light was sent roaring, ripping, blazing through the air around him. It smashed into Weezing and ripped right through it. When the light faded Weezing was only just standing – or floating. It was not done yet however.

"End this with…" Janine paused "Explosion." She finished. Weezing immediately began to glow a sickly white-purple light and it swelled up to at least double the size. Light began to penetrate from its large gas holes and soon it came out from Weezings body itself. Joe and Ralph took a step away. Rocky and Winter covered themselves in the stands. Janine even prepared to be hit by the immense force of the attack. Weezings last ditch attempt was about to wipe them all out. Then suddenly the room shook and Weezing exploded. The force of the attack sp[read out across the entire room, through the entire building shaking it to its core. At the last second Ralph jumped in the way of the blast to protect Joe. Pitt however stood completely still. As the explosion of light and sound was about to his them Joe notices the air around him sparkling slightly. It was the same as when tome had told his Kadabra to use...

"Hold on!" Joe shouted, grabbing Ralph and shutting his eyes tight. Pitt suddenly dropped down against the floor. Ralph too closed his eyes and tensed ready. The explosion reached them, struck the three of them square on and … passed by without causing any damage what so ever. Joe's eyes opened again. He saw the glistening protect shield surrounding them. Pitt had somehow learned that move as well. Joe certainly didn't remember teaching him it. Pitt looked exhausted but he was still standing. So was the building. The same could not be said for everything else however. Janine had been knocked clear by the force and she lay hurt but not too badly on the floor by her podium. Winter and Rocky had been battered by the heavy amount of sound but they too seemed okay if a little shaken. Joe and Ralph gasped. Then they burst out laughing. They had done it again. They had narrowly defeated another gym leader with an amazingly lucky attack. They high fived and cheered. Winter and Rocky began cheering from the side lines as well. Pitt stood up on his back legs and roared defiantly. Joe hugged his large head and Pitt let out a quiet happy purr. Janine got back onto her feet again and gasped at the result. Joe had won against all the odds of him doing so against that attack. She looked distraught for a short while, then her expression changed to contented. She clapped her hands together applauding.

"Well done trainer." She congratulated him. She walked slowly up to him, her cloak waving in the still shaking air around her. She reached Joe and held out her hand which he politely shook. "You beat my trials. Your Pokémon and you have what it takes to be true ninja's." She smiled and pulled her hand away. Joe realised she had left something in his palm. He opened his hand and looked down at the small heart shaped badge on his palm. "That is the Soul Badge." Janine explained to him. "That is proof that you have beaten me for all others to see." Joe clasped the badge in his fingers.

"Thank you." He smiled. She smiled back.

"Also if you're interested I could use someone like you around here." She whispered in his ear. "I need an apprentice and you've been the toughest trainer to fight me in ages. How would you feel about taking up the role?" Joe pulled away, a happy smiled appearing on his face. "I'm serious." Janine told him, now speaking back at her normal pitch. "I would train you for the job and everything. You might like it." She enticed. Joe simply held out a hand to stop her, a small laugh escaping from his mouth.

"Sorry." He told her. "But I'm happy travelling for now." Janine shrugged.

"Well if you're sure." She understood, her smile fading away. "But just in case you come back and change your mind my offer is still open."

Joe stepped back outside into the warmer, southern Kanto air. It felt good to be outside again in the sun. Ralph followed after him. Joe had withdrew his Pokémon and handed them in to the nurses at the centre to be healed. Ralph was fine for now, though. He had probably sustained the least damage and he at least seemed ok. He certainly wasn't willing to leave Joe's side. They currently stood just outside of the city's Pokémon centre. Winter and Rocky walked out to join him.

"That was an incredible final turn." Winter told him, slapping his shoulder.

"It was pretty cool I guess." Joe agreed, wincing and rubbing the area she had hit. For a girl Winter had a very strong arm. "I must admit I never expected Pitt to evolve at the end. I am glad he did though, otherwise we might have lost that last part."

"I wonder who will be next to evolve in your team." Rocky wondered, smiling at the idea. Joe too considered this. It was most likely to be Cinders who'd evolve next because he levelled through experience and he must be close to having enough soon. Pippy was the other possibility. He was not at his final evolution yet and while Joe didn't have a thunder stone he did know where he could get one from. If he ever wanted a Raichu he could use it then.

"I guess we'll see." Joe told them. "I still have one slot free for a sixth team member, though. I should keep that in mind. If I want to add another Pokémon they would need most of the training to follow after its capture so as to get them to the same level as the rest of my team." He explained. Rocky nodded.

"I understand." The four of them stood there for a couple of seconds quietly, each waiting for the other to say something. Finally Winter spoke.

"The Safari Zone" She said suddenly, surprising the others.

"Sorry?" Joe asked, unsure why she shouted the words out.

"We haven't been to the Safari Zone yet, have we?" She realised excitedly. "We should go check it out while our Pokémon are being healed."

"We can't be gone for too long, can we?" Joe asked. Rocky shook his head.

"I checked with the nurse earlier. It will be a couple of hours till our Pokémon are healed. She can take care of them till we come back." He told them. Joe seemed to be encouraged by this. Ralph was already flying in the direction of the Safari gates.

"All right." Joe agreed. "I suppose we co…**oooooooould**!" He was cut off by Ralph grabbing his collar and trying to drag him along. Joe tried to push him of but Ralph was determined t get him moving quickly. "Ralph, stop it!" Joe snapped. "Put me down!" He pointed a finger at Ralph. Ralph glanced at it and kept of dragging. Rocky and Winter watched laughing. They too quickly followed after them.

Meanwhile unknown to the group, a large posy of Rocket grunts were breaking their way into the safari from the northern side. They had walked along the huge open dried grasslands and were now climbing four by four over the tall steel railings around the Safari Zone. They had used a couple of ground Pokémon to dig underneath the fence and more grunts were crawling under there. From the group, hiding in the trees stood the shadowed figure. The same figure that had been stalking Joe and his team since Viridian. He watched from the tall grass, kept low so that the grunts couldn't see him. The large purple form of a Golbat sat with him, watching as he did. The figure put his binoculars down and placed it by his chest, his dark brown eyes glistening in the afternoon sun.

"Let's see how they manage to take care of this." He said quietly.


	23. Chapter 23: On Safari

Joe and Ralph waited at the counter to get in to the safari zone, Rocky and Winter standing beside them. Ralph seemed really persistent about seeing everything in one day. It was almost puppy-like, his excitement. Currently Ralph was jumping up and down – or at least mimicking jumping up and down using his wings to shoot himself up slightly in the air then drop back down to floor level and repeat. Joe passed the lady behind the counter 15 poke-dollars as payment for all three of them to enter. She placed the money in the counter and pulled out three small but quite heavy sack bags.

"In hear you'll find all thirty safari balls." She told them, a hint of depression in her voice. She certainly looked exhausted with her job. Being a kid Joe didn't understand why someone would want to do a job they didn't enjoy. He grabbed the closest bag and opened it, untying the lacing keeping it shut. Sure enough he counted thirty small green and grey patterned poke-balls. "Feel free to catch as many Pokémon as you want. Everyone else does." She muttered the last part under her breath; hardly realising Joe had heard her saying it.

"Uh, thank you." Joe told her and passed a bag to Winter. Rocky took the last bag from the counter and the trio turned around to face the gate.

"Enjoy your visit." The lady called after them in her monotone voice as they walked through the archway, pushed open the metal grid gate and stepped onto the dusty grit path.

"Whoa." All three of them exclaimed at the sight of the vast land before them. Lying at their feet, shimmering in the southern Kanto midday sun was the dry, grassy, stony, muddy, wet, vast, open, magnificent area land that belongs to the Safari Zone. The Zone itself must have been miles long, reaching the edge of the short cliffs cutting the land in that area off from the Kanto city. The entire zone seemed to be held in by a tall steel railing standing at around ten feet high.

"Look at this place." Winter gasped. "It's so beautiful."

"Yeah." Rocky agreed, sounding like he was in a dream. "Incredible."The land before them had no fences blocking of each area but it was clear that the safari zone had been split into at least four separate parts. Besides them was a map. Joe walked over and checked it out. On the map he could see the parts split up for them. The area they were in - Area 1 - was the furthest south of the four squares. On the map the actual area was shown as being a multitude of all three of the major biomes. It had a lot of dusty open dry land but also had several large areas of grass and shrubbery but also in the centre there was a large pond. The other three Biomes seemed to be mainly focused on one of the three. Area 2 was the square on the right and was more open and hilly then the rest of the areas. There were very few patches of grass around there and a very small pond lay near the far right. Area 3 was the square on the northern side of the map and it was practically covered in long grass, save for a small river running across the upper half and a small hill near the left side. The final area – Area 4 – was just less than half dry grass; the rest was a large lake that took up the entire southwest of the square. All four areas seemed unique in their geography and Joe could only assume that each of them would have different Pokémon suited to hat habitat. The others joined his side.

"It's all so big, isn't it." Joe thought aloud.

"Where should we start?" Rocky wondered. They all thought for a moment, looking at the standing map.

"Well Area 3 has the biggest area of grass land…" Joe decided. "So we're probably more likely to find Pokémon around there." The others nodded in agreement. It seemed the most logical assumption.

"Should we split up?" Rocky asked. Joe shook his head.

"We should keep close." He told them. "Just in case one of us needs help." They set of walking towards that area of the Safari Zone, watching the grass around them. Occasionally a Pokémon would appear to check for danger or to graze on the dried plants around them. Once in a while a really strange Pokémon would appear and then quickly disappear into the hole it had come from. Ralph kept his eyes out. While he didn't expect there to be any trouble and he still had four more days to prepare he wanted to be certain that nothing bad would happen. He wanted to make sure that any wild Pokémon that might attack wouldn't get far. They walked on for a bit until they saw a sign reading 'Area Three'. Before the group were several large patches of healthy green grass. In many of the patches movement could be seen somewhere in between the reeds.

"Ok, guys!" Rocky announced, rubbing his hands together. "Let's get catching!"And with that he ran into the shrubbery and disappeared in a sea of green. Joe turned to Winter and saw she was smiling.

"Come on." She waved a hand at him, now herself walking towards the tall grass. "The Pokémon aren't going to catch themselves." And she too disappeared into the greenery. Joe chuckled and followed after them. Ralph took an overhead flight, keeping his eyes on where Joe was going but flying over the grass so as to get an overhead view of everything. The Three trainers rushed through and in and out of the tall blades, startling small clusters of bird Pokémon that were nesting there and sending them scattering in the air. Other Pokémon that couldn't fly came running out from the patches in droves, trying to escape the trainers. After a couple of minutes Joe reappeared at the edge of the waving grass reeds, panting out of breath. Ahead of him a distressed Venonat was running away, surprised and annoyed by his rushing around. Joe cursed, not really annoyed as he found himself laughing tiredly.

"Damn." He laughed. "Got away." Winter ran past him chasing after a Pokémon.

"Come on!" She laughed, Pulling Joe back into the grass. The three trainers rushed around in the grass for another view minutes. After a while they began to get tired. They all regrouped on the road, tired out from running after multiple different Pokémon.

"No luck?" Rocky panted. Winter and Joe shook their heads.

"No Luck." Joe panted. Ralph glided back down to them and joined their side.

"We should try one of the other areas." Winter gasped, getting her breath back. The others nodded in agreement. Suddenly there was a quiet rustling from a small patch of grass nearby. A Pokémon was struggling around in it. Rocky smiled and readied an empty Safari Ball. He slowly began to creep towards the patch, careful with his foot placement so he didn't scare the Pokémon away. From the grass a yellow and brown wavy hide could be seen through the greenery. Rocky smiled back to the others, stopping for a second.

"I've got this one." He whispered. And slowly starter to continue sneaking towards the hiding Pokémon. Joe and Winter looked back into the grass beside them.

"May as well keep searching." Joe shrugged and jumped back into the grass. Winter was about to join him when suddenly she saw something moving out of the corner of her eye. She glanced to the right. Down the left side path, only ten metre's away or so, was a tubby pink Pokémon. Its body was shaped like a large fat egg, fat at the bottom half and getting much thinner as it went up, leaving its head a small flat bump with tiny eyes and a smiling kind mouth. It had a couple of long red tipped frills at the side of its neck and its tiny arms kept a small white egg safe in a stomach pouch as it waddled along on its small, flat red feet. Behind it dragged an upwards pointed pink tail. The Pokémon waddled forwards towards a patch of grass and disappeared into it. It seemed to be heading somewhere in a hurry.

"A Chansey." Winter nearly cheered with delight at her luck. "A rare one." She snuck forward slightly towards the now rustling grass which Chansey had walked through. "Where's it going then?" She wondered. Quickly she snuck up toward the grass and trampled through it, suddenly bursting into a small open area of grass. At the centre the Chansey was kneeling down next to another Pokémon. The second Pokémon seemed to be injured as it was whimpering quietly and lying on its side. From experience Winter could see that the second Pokémon was in fact a young Growlithe. The Chansey was healing it up and trying to break something that was strapped around its foot. Winter stopped where she was, watching the kindly Pokémon set to work on the poor Growlithe. Its hind leg seemed to be caught in the grip of a vicious toothed square bear trap on a heavy steel chain buried into the ground at the centre of the circle. At its sides stuck two long thin blades designed for cutting grass. It seemed that when the trap is sprung the blades pop out and cut a circle of grass around them, allowing the hunter to find it again easily. An item like this was illegal, especially when it came to use in a public Pokémon enclosure like the Safari Zone. Winter took a step forward, the sliced grass blades crumpling lightly under her feet. Both Pokémon immediately glanced at her, their heads a blur with the speed of the movement. Both of them starred for a couple of seconds. The Growlithe began to growl and back up, trying to get away from her, only to find itself being pulled back by the traps steel chain. Winter held her flat hands and tried to calm them down. Chansey didn't do anything. It just stood where it was, watching Winter cautiously. It didn't look afraid but at the same it didn't look confident. Winter took a step closer. Chansey turned towards her fully; grabbing the top of the egg resting in its pouch to throw at the intruder should she be a threat. Winter held her arms up disarmingly.

"It's ok" She quietly said, trying to sound disarming. "I can help." Chansey just starred at her, seemingly reading her. Winter pointed at Growlithe's trapped leg, hoping that Chansey could understand what she was saying. After a couple of seconds Chansey dropped the egg back into its pocket and turned back around to try and help Growlithe out of the trap. Growlithe meanwhile was still growling at her. He clearly was not too happy about a human being near him. Winter tried to take another step forward and Growlithe growled louder, its head rearing up now took her square in the eye. Chansey fixed it with a hard stair and it immediately quietened down, lying back on the floor, its trapped leg outstretched. Winter slowly and cautiously took a couple more steps on, heading around to the side to watch what Chansey was doing. Growlithe kept its eyes fixed on her movement. She stopped and knelt down beside Chansey, watching what it was doing. It was currently shaking the egg that had sat in its stomach pocket about in its hand like a cocktail. It then held it still between both hands and suddenly snapped the top half of, leaving the inside liquid visible. Chancey dipped its free hand into the white sloppy yolk-like liquid, scooped out some of it and began to spread it over the wound on Growlithe's trapped leg. Growlithe winced slightly but quickly the pain subsided as the balm got to work. Chancey then passed the egg under Growlithe's muzzle and placed it on the floor by its front paws. It immediately began lapping up the liquid. When it was done it let out a satisfied burp and seemed to cheer up a bit, hardly even remembering it was still trapped. Chansey then got to work at trying to remove the trap on its leg. It grabbed both metal jaws and pulled, trying to break them open but found itself unsuccessful.

"Let me help you." Winter asked. She reached out to grab the jaw trap and break it open but Chansey held her hand back. She looked at her and shook her head. She then reached back for the jaw but her tiny hands couldn't reach from where she was. She couldn't get close enough to free Growlithe from the trap while holding Winter back. "I can help break him free." She calmly spoke. Chansey glanced between the two of them. "Let me help, please." She continued. Chansey grabbed Winter's hand and pulled it to the steel teeth and had her grab the heavy edge. She began to pull, using all of her strength to separate the two and free Growlithe's leg. Chancey placed a small hand on the side blades and pushed them in slowly. As the blades finally clicked back into their original position the jaw suddenly snapped open and Growlithe was free. It immediately shot up and began running circles around the ring of grass, glad to be free. Chansey gave a small cheer for it and stood up again, edging away from the now readied again trap. Winter too was smiling for it. Now that it was free the Growlithe seemed full of life and energy. She stood up and watched it playing about in the sand. It wound was still not healed but at least it could run on it. One thought seemed to stay in her mind, though. Someone must have laid the trap. And whoever that was would probably come back to check on it at some point. Growlithe gave a satisfied yap and rubbed its nose against Chancey. It then did the same for Winter. Winter stroked its head and it barked. It they turned around and dashed off back into the grass. She couldn't help but smile as it disappeared. She took a step forward and nearly stood on the jaw trap herself. She pulled back her foot and looked down at it. This evil product designed to ensnare and cause pain to the hapless victims that happened to stand on it. She picked it up, being careful not to set it off and hanging it of her fingers. Chansey watched her do so, unsure what she was going to do with it and wanting to keep far away from it. She seemed to examine it for several seconds. Suddenly there was rustling from the bushes and two more humans came through. Chansey stepped away, assuming them to be the people that had laid the trap. As it turned out it was just Winter's friends, Rocky and Joe. They had regrouped and gone to find where she had disappeared to. Ralph was with them but Rocky seemed to have another Pokémon following behind him. The Pokémon was short and plump with a short proboscis in place of a nose and Heavy yellow skin. Its lower body was a dark brown shading, split from the yellow by a weird wavy pattern. Apart from this it seemed to just be a three feet tall pig like Pokémon. As well as this it stood on two legs and its front hooves had evolved into a set of primitive three fingered hands. As it waddled along it kept waving its hands in front of its face. It wasn't too obvious why but Winter found watching the movement for long made her feel tired.

"There you are." Joe said, seeing her standing in the clearing by herself. He then noticed the Chansey standing next to her.

"Who's this?" Rocky asked, seeing it for the first time. "Did you catch yourself a new Pokémon as well?" He asked. Chansey didn't seem to like his sudden assumption that she was owned. She placed her small hands as close to her hips as she could reach and stood glaring at him. Winter waved a hand dismissively.

"No, I found it here." She explained. "Yet you can talk, walking in here with a new Pokémon of your own." She gestured to the new Pokémon. It didn't even look up at her. It just kept looking into the distance, apparently in a world of its own.

"Oh him?" Rocky asked. "He's a Drowzee. Caught him a minute ago. His names Ely." Winter laughed.

"Ely?" She snickered. "I thought that other nicknames were unoriginal but Ely!" She burst into laughter. Rocky didn't look too pleased.

"Stop knocking it!" He complained. "It's not that bad. Besides he does look a bit like an elephant." Winter couldn't help it. She burst into full on laughter. Joe suddenly spoke, trying to bring the conversation towards the original direction.

"So how did you come across such a rare Pokémon here?" Joe asked. Winter managed to hold back her laughter to answer the question. She then lifted the large jaw trap up in front of their eyes.

"She was helping free a Growlithe from this." She Explained. Rocky and Joe looked at the evil device.

"What's an item like that doing in here?" Joe wondered. "I thought the Safari Zone was meant to be a legal place to catch as many rare Pokémon as you like."

"It is." Rocky told him. "An item like this is illegal. Only poachers tend to use them. Never seen one that looks like this before." He tapped the metal jaws with a finger. He then noticed the metal blades slotted into the sides and almost hidden from view.

"We should probably report this to one of the keepers." Winter spoke.

"Agreed." Joe replied. "We'd just need to find one first." Chansey suddenly tugged on Winters shirt.

"What is it?" She asked. Chansey pointed into the distance, towards Area 2. She seemed to be able to hear something that the others could not as she raised a hand to her ears and mimed listening. "Can you hear something?" Winter asked. Chancey nodded, continuing to point in the direction she wanted them to go.

"Looks like she wants us to go check out Area 2 for some reason." Rocky noted. Chansey nodded vigorously and dashed off into the grass. The three trainers began to follow after it, dropping the trap and leaving it lying readied on the dried grass. The three trainers and their Pokémon hurried after Chansey, being careful not to trip on the grass or run into any other wild Pokémon and maybe anger them.

"Where's she taking us?" Joe shouted to the others, falling back slightly as he dodged an upset Tauros trying to move out of the way.

"Don't know." Winter called back, panting slightly. "But I think we can trust her. Chansey are caring Pokémon."

"It might be a trap though." Rocky argued. "What if whoever laid that trap wants us to run into them." They stopped suddenly. Chansey stopped as well, noticing they were no longer following.

"I hadn't thought of that." Winter admitted. She looked between the two of them. "Is it a high possibility?"

"Maybe." Rocky told her. "Trappers can be cunning. Though truthfully I don't know why they'd want to catch trainers."

"We should go quietly then." Joe told them. "Sneak up on them and find out what's going on over there." They all nodded at this idea.

"Good idea." Rocky whispered. "We'll sneak over there." They began to continue following Chansey, now moving at a slower, quieter pace than before. As they got closer they began to hear the murmur of machinery. Something was going on but what it was they could not tell… at least not yet.

**Meanwhile on the other side of Area 2…**

"Ross." Ruby shouted at the top of her voice. Her companion, Ross, was currently chasing after a small group of Tauros in an attempt to catch one of them. Unfortunately most of them had scattered leaving him now chasing after only one. He ran after it until he had it cornered against a small steep cliff. It skidded to a stop and turned around, looking terrified at the stalking trainer. Frank smiled at it, a mad laugh breaking from his voice. He hadn't caught any strong Pokémon and a Tauros would be a great addition to his team.

"Finally!" He laughed. "A good Pokémon for the taking!" He readied a Safari Ball. Tauros began to sweat. It skittered about, wanting to make a break for it but Ross jumped in its way each time. The Tauros was young and didn't know that it could easily ram him out of the way in one swoop. Ruby and Frank finally reached him now, standing a little away from him.

"Nice going, Ross." Frank cheered on. "A Tauros will come in useful."

"But I wish you wouldn't go so crazy about it." Ruby complained. "You look insane running around like that and shouting like a madman. Ross glanced back at her, anger in his eyes.

"I'll do what I like!" he snapped. "If it means catching a strong Pokémon!" he readied the Safari Ball and threw it. Above Tauros meanwhile a small couple of pink eggs had hopped their way to the edge of the cliff to see what was happening. They looked down and saw the trainer about to catch the scared Pokémon and leaned in for a closer look. The eggs themselves made up the Pokémon Exeggcute, a Grass and Psychic Pokémon that couldn't be found anywhere else. Each and every egg shared the same mind yet thought for itself. While they shared memories they could move by themselves and think for themselves. It was this telekinetic ability which gave it its psychic powers. Because of this however none of them could ever stray too far from the others. They need to stay close at all times. While each separate egg could move about six feet away from the others it could not go any further without severing their telekinetic ties and being left alone forever. For this reason most of the time they would clump up together in a pile. Some of the eggs in this specific group had cracks along their shell-like bodies. Some believe this is a sign of being ready to evolve, even though Exeggcute needs a Leaf Stone to do so. They began pushing and shoving each other to get a view of the event. This specific family of eggs was a curious lot. Suddenly the trainers began shouting at each other. The biggest egg, usually placed in the middle of the group and the largest brain of the lot, pushed its way through the group to watch. The trainer at front readied its arm and it was at this moment that the Eggs slipped. They rolled forwards and off the edge of the cliff towards the ground bellow. They passed in front of Tauros and blocked its way. The ball however did not stop. It kept on travelling through the air, towards its target and hit one of the eggs square on the side. As it did so the ball opened and sucked each and every egg inside. Fortunately for the eggs it stopped them hitting the floor and cracking. Unfortunately for Ross he had caught the wrong Pokémon. He stared, mouth agape and what he had just witnessed. Tauros meanwhile took this opportunity to make an escape. It dashed for the edge of the grass and ran away, losing the trainers behind it. All three of Team Ace just stared.

"How… did… that… happen?" Ross whispered, more to himself then the others. He then flung his arms around in a sudden rage. "How on earth did that happen?" He shouted. "How am I so unlucky that another Pokémon happens to fall in front of the Pokémon I am trying to catch and get caught itself? How is that even a possibility?" He screamed.

"Oh stop being a child." Ruby snapped at him. "You did at least catch a Pokémon."

"Oh yeah, I caught a Pokémon." Ross agreed, sarcastically. "It's juts the wrong bloody on!"

"Exeggcute's aren't that bad." Ruby tried to cheer him up.

"Yeah they are." Ross argued. "They're worse than a Tauros is."

"Actually they are pretty useless." Frank joined in. Ruby glared at him and he immediately fell silent.

"Well tough!" She told him. "You caught your one Pokémon and your sticking with it! No buts" Ross moaned. "I mean it, Ross." She snapped. "If you start moaning then I swear to god I'll get Crabby to grab you again, this time in a more painful area!" Ross gulped. He knew what she was talking about.

"Ok!" He sighed. "I'll stop moaning." Ruby smiled. "That doesn't mean I have to like it, though." He complained.

"Well go on. Give it a bit of free time." Frank insisted. Ross just glared at him.

"Why is that important?" He asked.

"So we can see your pathetic new Pokémon." Frank laughed back. Ross gave him a solid kick and Frank went rolling along across the dusty road.

"What is all that?" Joe whispered in disturbed awe. Before him and his friends was a large set of machines, each one whirring away. The machines themselves seemed to be large claws with a conveyer belt and a huge stack of metal cages. Clearly they were for packaging the produce that the poachers caught and getting them ready to send back to headquarter. Several of the cages were already filled with all kinds of Pokémon, from Ratatta and Pidgey to Scyther and Tauros to even a Chansey. Chansey gave a distressed cry and winter hugged it. Seeing one of its own in a cage made it no longer the happiness Pokémon. Around the machines where several grunts wearing the black and red R patterned suits of Team Rocket. Joe hissed under his breath.

"They're back." Rocky whispered.

"So what do we do?" Winter asked them. No one spoke for a couple of seconds.

"I don't know." Rocky finally answered.

"We should do something, shouldn't we?" Joe asked them, glancing back at the heavy numbers of Grunts now appearing in the clearing.

"I don't think we can." Rocky explained. "There are quite a lot of them now."

"We've defeated more." Joe argued.

"But these ones look a lot tougher." Rocky continued. He pointed nimbly at a couple of tougher looking grunts. Beside them were a couple of Pokémon that the group hadn't seen before. "Their Pokémon are higher evolutions. These grunts must be an elite group, much stronger than the usual grunts." Rocky pulled back again just as a couple of grunts marched past their hiding place. They waited for them to pass before continuing their hushed conversation.

"So you suggest we let them steal these Pokémon away and do nothing about it?" Winter asked. Rocky nodded sadly.

"I don't think there is anything we can do." He explained. Joe grumbled to himself.

"Well I'm not just going to sit here and watch these monsters kidnap more innocent Pokémon." He decided. "We needed to think of something. Maybe one of us gets their attention and draws them away from their machines while the others free all the Pokémon." He suggested. Winter wasn't paying attention anymore. She was looking around wildly for something.

"Where's Chansey?" She asked. Joe looked around and suddenly realised they were in fact missing someone. Chansey had disappeared.

"She must have snuck away while we weren't looking." Rocky deducted.

"We need to find her." Winter told them. "If she's still in this area then she's in danger of being found or even kidnapped by Team Rocket." Suddenly rocky leaned forwards and pointed out through the grass towards the small steep cliffy area behind the machines.

"Look, up there!" He exclaimed, remembering to keep quiet when doing so in case Team Rocket herd him. The others looked out as well. On the top of the cliff, quickly scaling down the side was the fat pink egg shaped form of Chansey. It must have snuck its way around the clearing while they were talking, had climbed up the hidden side of the cliff and made its way to the top without being seen. As they watched it, the small stone she had rested on had fell off and she slipped, nearly losing her grip. The stone skittered down the side of the cliff edge and caused another small number of stones to follow. As they fell the sound rolled over the clearing. Immediately all of the grunts patrolling turned in surprise to see a short, fat, pink Pokémon hanging from both tiny hands onto the edgy of the cliff. Immediately they readied nets and weapons, watching the now terrified Pokémon hang in the air.

"Damn it!" Joe hissed, his voice getting louder. "She's been seen!"

"If we're going to act we need to do so now!" Rocky rushed them. They all took a quick glance at eat other. There wasn't any choice in the matter.

"I'll get their attention." Joe told them. "You guys free the Pokémon." And with that he burst out from the grass, shouting "Yaaaaaaaahhh!" The grunts suddenly spun around to see a young teenage boy rushing towards them, a large purple bat flying right above him, almost touching his raised arm. Suddenly Joe skidded to a halt, Ralph however kept flying, folding his wings into small flaps and speeding forwards at incredible speed, pushed forwards by the force of Joe's throw. The grunts had little time to react as the large purple skin wings crashed into row of them and knocked them down in seconds. Ralph quickly nose dived and turned around, flying upside down and dodging all the net swings that came for him. His back nearly touched the floor as he flew so low that his wings were tripping all grunts beside him up. At least half of the grunt had been knocked over by his attacks. He quickly flew back to Joe who had turned around and began running the other way. "Come on, you cowards!" He taunted them, shaking a taunting hand at the grunts behind him. He then raised his arms above his head, mock surrendering. "Come catch us!" The grunts immediately sprung into action.

"Nab 'em!" One shouted from the mass. "Immediately the others began to give chase, dashing after the now speeding away trainer and into the long grass. After several seconds the entirety of the clearing was empty of human life, say the two young trainers that had left their hiding place in the long grass and were now hurriedly making their way to the abandoned machines. The dumb Rockets had left their machinery running while they chased after Joe and Ralph. They were currently beeping loudly, demanding more Pokémon for them to eat in and cage out. Chansey had made its way safely down to the ground again now and it was standing next to the metal cage it had seen earlier. Inside was another Chansey tugging at the bars, desperately trying to get out. Chansey looked in at it, sadly. She reached inside the cage and took the other chansey's hand. They looked into each other's eyes for several seconds, tears beginning to appear into the freed Chansey's eyes. She waved a hand to Winter, asking her to come over and help. She rushed forwards and looked over the cage. Whoever had designed it had done a very good job. The cage's door had a very strong and solid lock, too thick and tough to be broken open by tools and none of them had the physical strength to wedge it open. The steel it was made up glistened with water droplets all over. Fire wasn't going to work on it either.

"Wish I'd brought Chopper with me now." Rocky muttered. "He'd have them free in seconds."

"How are we going to get them out?" Winter wondered. Rocky just turned away.

"Don't know." He admitted. Ely tugged at his leg. He seemed to want to try opening it. "I don't know what you could do to help." Rocky told him. Ely looked deflated.

"Let him try." Winter told her friend. Rocky sighed.

"Alright." He agreed. He grabbed Ely around the waist and lifted him onto the belt with the Chansey locked in the cage. He began flexing his arms and swiping his hands about in the air before him. As he did so the metal bars began to creak and squeak. The metal was bending very slightly before their eyes. As Rocky's Drowzee got to work both Chanseys watched, waiting. Suddenly, without warning, the tough metal lid flung open and sailed into the air, its hinges ripped from the metal and the bars bent and crushed. It landed several metres away on the sandy floor, sending a small cloud of dust into the sky. Both the trainers gasped in surprise. Winter whistled, awestruck.

"Damn." She chuckled. "That was pretty cool." Ely turned around and smiled at the two of them. Rocky picked him up and putted his head. The caged Chansey slowly pulled itself out of the now open cage and rushed to hug its kind. The two Pokémon embraced, happy to be free. The two humans looked down at them both, smiling happy for them.

"It's going to be tough to tell which is which now, isn't it." Rocky thought aloud. Winter nodded in agreement.

"It is."

"You should nickname the one you helped." He continued. Winter shrugged.

"I suppose I could." She agreed "But she's a free Pokémon. I didn't catch her so it wouldn't seem right." She noticed the Chanseys looking up at her. The closest one, the one she had helped stepped up to her and took her hand. It smiled up at her. Winter found herself smiling back. Chansey pointed to the bag of safari balls around her waist. Winter looked from it to the bag and then back. "You want to join my team?" She asked, unsure. Chansey nodded. Winter seemed to consider this. "Are you sure." She asked again. "Once I catch you you'll probably be away from here for a long time. Are you certain you want to leave your friend here?" Chansey looked back at its sister. The other Chansey waved a hand, dismissively. She wanted her friend to be happy. Chansey turned back to winter and gave a stubborn nod. Winter took a step backwards.

"Looks like you've got a team of four now, too." Rocky told her. Winter smiled.

"Yeah." She agreed. "But I'm yet to catch her yet." She continued. With that she pulled out a safari ball to throw. Chansey readied itself and Winter released the ball into the air and towards the Pokémon.

Joe pushed his way through the grass, Ralph flying closely above him. Behind them they could still hear the angry cries of Team Rocket and the heavy whir of loud machinery. Joe glanced back and saw them starting to get further back as he outran then.

"Looks like we're losing them." He laughed. Ralph laughed too. They slowed down a little. Suddenly the ground below seemed to dip as his foot hit the ground. A split second later there was the sound of a spring releasing and sudden, sharp pain flashed at the bottom of that same leg, just above his ankle. Something had bitten him heavily on the leg with steel metal claws. He yelled out in surprise, then pain. He tried to pull his leg forward but found that it was dragged back. His weight moved to the front and he found himself falling forwards. The grass around him for at least a four metre radius suddenly collapsed in piles to the floor as something quick, sharp and metal slashed them away from under his feet. The jaw trap held Joe tight to where he had caught it, not letting him go for a second. Joe found himself falling forwards and onto his face. He landed with a heavy and painful thud on the cut grass reeds, lying there for a couple of seconds in pain. Ralph skidded to a halt in the air and looked down at his injured friend lying on the floor. He swooped down and looked at the metal trap around his leg. Joe groaned in pain, opening his eyes again. "What was that?" He groaned. He looked down at the heavy jaws on his foot, trapping him to the ground. "Crap." He cursed. "One of these." He tried to turn over and break the trap of but the trap hardly moved, making it very tough for him to twist over and grab it. He heard voices shouting out to one another in the distance.

" 'e's sprung one of the traps." One called.

"Now's our chance. Get over there and get 'im!" Joe hissed.

"Not good." Ralph landed on the ground and crawled his way around to Joe's trapped leg. He began biting and tugging at it. He pulled with his wings but he couldn't get the trap to release him. They could hear the grunts getting closer. Joe sighed and looked back at Ralph. "Ralph, stop it." He hissed. The Crobat didn't pay any attention. He began to tug more, flapping about as he pulled. The hats of Rocket grunts appeared nearby, poking out of the grass like sentries. "Ralph!" Joe snapped. Still he didn't listen. He began to tug wildly now, lifting his leg of the floor and causing more pain. One or two grunts peered out from the grass edge now. "Ralph will you calm down for one second!" Joe snapped over the sound of the heavy machinery in the distance. They were surrounded by at least twenty Rocket grunts, all carrying a variety of weapons and Pokémon. Ralph still did not listen. He was trying to lift Joe of the ground using his teeth but he couldn't. He was too heavy. Joe was still unable to move, the trap around his leg holding tight and digging into his skin. Ralph now tried to bite of the chain which was dug deep into the ground but it was too tough for his fangs to break. They sat in the small ring of cut grass, the grunts surrounding them from the edge of the ring just visible from the tall grass around. "You can't break me out." Joe tried to calm him down. Ralph was not listening however. One of the grunts Pokémon, a drowzee, rushed forwards to attack them. Ralph immediately reacted by striking out with his wing when it got close and knocked it out instantly. The other grunts edged back a little. Joe grabbed Ralph's lower wing and turned him around. They looked each other straight in the eyes. "Ralph, leave me here." Joe insisted. Ralph looked defiantly back to the grunts around them. He let out a low hiss to keep them back. He then turned back to his trainer, giving him sad eyes. Joe looked back at him, afraid but stern. "They're after you now." He continued quickly. "Get away from here. Find help. Save yourself." He let go of his Wing and lay down, consciousness beginning to slip from him now as the pain and fatigue from his wounds sapped his strength. Ralph looked at his exhausted trainer. He took a quick glance back at the grunts surrounding them and then folded his wings out.

"Get 'em!" One of the grunts shouted. The circle quickly closed in on the two of them, surrounding them in a tighter formation. When they were inches away from reaching them Ralph gave a mighty flap of his huge wings and knocked all of the grunts back slightly. The wind he created caused the sliced blades of grass on the floor to fly up into the air around them and create a thin cloud of plant matter dust. When the grunts looked back Ralph was gone. He had shot high into the sky away from them, almost invisible against the now dying sun. Joe smiled weakly, the last drops of consciousness fading from his body.

"Go." He whispered as his eyes finally closed shut. "Get… Help."

"What was that? Ruby asked in surprise, hearing the burst of sound from miles away. She and her team looked around.

"Don't know." Ross admitted. Then he pointed in surprise up at the sky. "Look! Over there!" He gasped. Ruby and Frank followed his finger. In the distance, nearly a tiny figure to their eyes was a large purple winged creature soaring high into the sky. Behind it the air rippled and cracked as he reached speeds over 200 miles an hour.

"Is that?" Frank gasped, shielding his eyes from the sun. The form shot upwards like a cannon ball made of copper. His body glistened against the sun, illuminated by its glare.

"Crobat." Ruby muttered. Exeggcute – or Mort as Ross had nicknamed it – Watched in awe, having never seen anything like this before.

"Should we go after him?" Ross asked. Ruby shook her head.

"No." She said simply. "Why bother. He's probably with his trainer anyway. We'd never get a chance to catch him." Something whistled past their heads and landed behind them with a light thud. All three members of Team Ace looked back, then down. Half buried in the ground, having shot from the air like a speeding meteor, was a small, brown and green stone with a just visible leaf stone imprinted on its flat side.

"Did that just fall from the sky?" Frank asked, a little confused. The other two did not respond.

"Where did this Leaf Stone come from?" Ruby asked.

"Don't know." Ross admitted. "Maybe magic." He suggested. Ruby gave him a sarcastic stare. Mort hobbled their way up to the stone. One of the eggs got a little too close and slipped on the ground bellow it, hitting its shell head on the edge of the leaf stone. Immediately after it did so the stone began to glow a bright white light. Mort began to glow too. Each of the eggs, now regrouped, glowed brighter then the stars and fused together. Suddenly their form grew upwards, knocking Ross and Ruby over and Frank backwards. Each of them covered their eyes in surprise. When they looked back the light had stopped. Before them stood Ross's third Pokémon. Now, however, it was a lot different. Instead of it being six sentient egg-like bodies it was a tall, two legged, three headed palm tree. Each head seemed to have a different expression. The middle one was smiling, the left one was frowning and the right one was grinning cheekily. It stomped around for a couple of seconds, the long thin leaves poking out of its head nearly hitting the three of them. It stood at a full foot higher then Ross and Ruby and it was smiling.

"Wha!" Ross exclaimed in surprise, shooting back onto his feet and gasping in awe at its size. He was at a loss for words. "How did he… I ju… I … It… Whaaaaaaaat!?" He gasped, dumbly. He shot forwards and put an arm around Mort's now tree like body. He began smiling. "Of course I knew that he'd become this awesome at some point." He lied, trying to seem cooler. "Knew all along. I just pretended I didn't." Ruby rolled her eyes.

"Stop fawning over him already." She tutted, grabbing Ross by the arm and dragging him away. "We should go find out what's going on over there." She was referring to Ralph bursting into the air a minute before. Ross shouted in annoyance as Ruby dragged him away. Frank and Mort followed suit. Mort's right head looked down at Frank, grinning.

"What are you staring at?" He asked, defensively, catching its gaze. Mort looked away, acting like he wasn't doing anything.

"What was that?" Winter asked suddenly, the Safari ball clicking shut, catching Chansey.

"Sounds like Joe." Rocky noted, breaking free another cage. Ely helped him do so by snapping the lock off with his psychic powers. "He must be in pain." He and Winter shared glances.

"We should go find him." Winter said, worrying for her friend. "What if he's hurt?"

"I understand your fear." Rocky told her. "But we need to free these Pokémon first. If we leave them here then they could be stuck in these cages for the rest of their lives." Winter nodded understanding.

"Alright." She sighed, picking up the pokéball with her newest Pokémon in. "Now what should I name you?" She wondered. With a swift movement she threw the ball up and released her newly caught Chansey. Chansey looked up at her, smiling. Winter thought for a second, taping a thing against her lip. "How about Shelly?" She asked. Chansey shook her head. "No? Ok. How about Yoko?" She asked again. Chansey shook her head even more. She gave an expression that said 'Stop coming up with names based around Eggs!' "Ok then." Winter thought for a couple more seconds. Then a name popped into her head. "What about Lucky?" She asked. Chansey rolled the name around in her head. She seemed to like the sound of it. She gave a decisive nod and Winter smiled. "Ok. You shall be named Lucky." She decided. Chansey – or as from now on, Lucky – Jumped about from one foot to the other happily. Winter patted it on the head and hugged it. Lucky waved at the other Chansey who was smiling and waving back. Suddenly there was loud burst of sound and air and something large and purple shot up into the sky behind them. Winter and Rocky immediately spun around In Surprise to see Ralph spiralling up into the air. Suddenly he dropped downwards and began to glide at incredible speeds back towards them.

"Ralph?" Rocky gasped in surprise. Ralph sped forwards, through the grass blades and nearly hit Rocky straight in the stomach. Instead he skidded to a halt across the grass floor, digging up the earth behind him. He skidded to a stop in front of the two trainers who looked down at him surprised. Lucky immediately got to work on him, helping him up and healing him with her magic egg cream.

"What happened?" Winter asked him, helping lift him back into the air. "Where's Joe?" Ralph looked back the way he came, pointing with a long purple flapping wing into the not too far away distance. He then bit into the air and held a wing limply in front of his face, imitating a broken or trapped limb. Lucky immediately realised what he was saying she tugged on Winters arm and pointed to Ralph. She imitated breaking open something tough and metal, maybe a chest or a lock. Ralph repeated his biting and limp wing. Slowly Winter realised what they were trying to say. "Oh No!" She gasped.

"What is it?" Rocky asked, still not understanding.

"Joe's caught in one of the traps I found earlier." She explained. "We need to go help him!" She began to make a move in the direction Ralph had shot from.

"You guys go." Rocky Told her. "I need to finish freeing these Pokémon. I'll meet you all at the entrance later." He shouted out to her as Winter, Ralph and Lucky disappeared into the sea of waving green.

Joe began to regain consciousness again. As he did so he saw that several of The Rocket grunts were standing in front of him. These specific ones were the Elite class grunts they had spotted earlier in the clearing with the machines. The rest of the grunts were busy scattering into the grass around them in groups, either checking the grass for Pokémon or heading off to find another patch to check. As Joe began to sit up, his eyes still a little blurry from unconsciousness and the dying light he felt something solid hit him in the side. He fell back onto his back and winced; reaching for the area he had been hit.

"Alright you little punk." The grunt that had kicked him said, spitting as he did so. "Where did you send that Crobat to?" He demanded, Joe just glared at him.

"Crobat?" He blanked for a second. He didn't want to let this lot know anything about Ralph. He wanted to keep him as safe as possible. The grunt kicked him again, this time on his injured heel. Joe yelped as pain spiked up his leg.

"Shall I rephrase the question?" The grunt asked. "Where is your Crobat heading and who is he heading too?" He demanded. Joe spat in his face.

"I wouldn't tell you." He hissed. "Even if it killed me." The grunt wiped his face and snarled at Joe.

"Alright then." He snarled, vilely. "Let's try another question. Who are you and how did you find us? Are you with the secret police?" Joe leaned up and gave him a funny expression.

"Do I look like a cop to you?" He asked, sarcastically. "You've got the wrong guy, sir." The grunt kicked him again. Joe winced as the pain flooded through his brain.

"Don't fool around, boy!" The grunt snapped, pressing his foot down harder on Joe's wound. "I know you know something about our little group. You've been medalling with Team Rocket for weeks now so don't think we don't know who you are. So I'm going to ask again. Who do you work for and what are they planning?" Joe squirmed under the Grunt's heavy boot. He tried to push it of but the grunt pushed down harder, kicking him again and again and again. "Tell Me!" The grunt shouted. Joe cried out in pain.

"I don't work for anyone!" He shouted, pain echoing in his voice.

"You Lie!" The grunt shouted back, pressing down harder as Joe squirmed, trying to free himself. Suddenly there was an excited cry from in the distance. All five of the Elite grunts turned to their right. Even the normal grunts that looked in its direction. A large, leafy form could be see poking out from the top of the grass. It looked like a large palm tree had somehow sprouted legs and was coming straight for them. "What the?" The leader grunt exclaimed, surprised. He stepped back, freeing Joe and joined the other Elite grunts. Suddenly the large tree-like figure burst out from the tall grass and stood in front of them all. On its side a human was hanging, its left arm hooked around the right side coconut sized head. He was shouting like a maniac and chanting.

"Alright, Mort!" He shouted, swinging around from his hanging point like an enraged primate. "Let's take care of these ruffians. We are Team Ace and we are here to kick you Buuuuuuuu…" Ross trailed off, finally noticing just how many grunts were watching him. He laughed, embarrassed, scratching the back of his head with his free hand. "Ah." He laughed. "I wasn't expecting there to be so many of you. Could we just forget that happened?" He wimped out. All eyes were now focused on him. The leader of the Elite Grunts pointed a hand at him.

"Grab this fool!" He commanded. Immediately every grunt jumped into action, running directly towards the giant tree.

"Run Away!" Ross shouted, pulling on Mort's head. Mort didn't move. Ross's body however kept moving and he found himself flying backwards, his grip breaking free and he fell backwards into the grass behind him. Mort fired a small clump of seeds from his front mouth at the grunts. As the seeds hit the ground before them they exploded with a couple of small 'Pops' sending the grunts flying backwards. He then began stomping his feet on the ground and a crack appeared, lifting large shards of earth up out of the ground and knocking the grunts standing on them over. Suddenly a loud whistling of air could be heard nearby. The elite grunts turned around and were suddenly knocked over by a speeding purple bullet. Ralph made a corner turn and came flying back in, ready to attack the now stood up again grunts.

"Stop it!" The leader grunt demanded. He and his four Elite grunts released their Pokémon. Their Pokémon consisted of a Muk, a Sandslash, a Butterfree, a Parasect and a Gloom. All five Pokémon set on to attack Ralph but their battle lasted only a second. Ralph swooped in and headed straight for Parasect first, striking it with his wing and knocking out cold. He passed by and headed next for the Butterfree. He grabbed it with his jaw and dragged it unconscious through the air and past Sandslash who tried to jump up and slash him only to hit Butterfree instead. Ralph dropped Butterfree and flew now towards Muk. Muk fired a glob of black sludge at him but Ralph rolled aside. The sludge his Sandslash and made it angry. It struck at the ground and caused it to break open, sending a small quake in Ralph's direction. Before it could hit him he took off again and Muk received the full damage of the attack, knocking it out cold. Finally he swung back round, his wings glistening silver and steel winged Sandslash in the head, knocking it too unconcern. Now only Gloom was left. It tried to use a stun spore on him but Ralph shot upwards, missing the spores. He reached a certain height then dived back down and struck it on the top of the head. Gloom curled up unconscious and its trainer, the leader Elite grunt, withdrew it, letting out a furious roar. "How!" He demanded, seeing the devastated team that Ralph alone had taken out. He turned to the weak Joe behind him. Joe smiled.

"Looks like your mission is a failure, sir." He mocked. The grunt growled annoyed. He went in to hit Joe again when Ralph dropped down in front of him and stood in his way, defiantly. The grunt stepped back as Ralph raised a solid purple wing up, ready to strike with. He sighed annoyed.

"I wouldn't bother going back to check on your machines." A female voice said from behind them. They turned. Standing at the edge of the clearing, having followed Ralph all the way was winter. She was smiling, glad that they had made it in time to save him. "We've already made sure to take them apart for you and help the Pokémon you caught out of their cells." She smirked. The grunt growled angrily.

"You foiled us this time, Trainer." He growled, looking at Joe again. "But Team Rocket will beat you one day. Hopefully soon." He spun around and waved an arm at the other grunts that immediately turned and headed back into the grass, towards the way they had come. Before he too l left he glared back at them evilly, then he disappeared. Winter was immediately at Joe's side, checking him.

"Are you ok?" She asked.

"Yes." Joe replied, feeling flustered. "I think so anyway."

"Your leg looks pretty bad." She decided. She then waved into the grass. Lucky, her new Chansey waddled out and joined them. She quickly pulled out an egg from her pouch and broke it open, letting the contents dribble over the wound. It immediately began to heal, the pain leaving him and being replaced with sheer gladness. "That was quite close." Winter laughed. Joe chuckled as well.

"Yeah." He agreed. "I guess it was."


	24. Chapter 24: Team Rocket Strikes

Joe, Winter, Rocky and Ralph made their way through the sliding glass doors into the Pokémon centre. They were helping to carry Joe as he still couldn't walk after getting the jaw trap around his right leg. While Winter and her Chansey, Lucky, had managed to get rid of the pain and heal most of the wound it was still sore and it hurt to walk on. The sun had almost set now and it was causing a beautiful wave of Dark Blue and Purple light to splash against the window. During the fiasco wit Team Rocket, Team Ace had appeared with a new Pokémon and promptly fled again, as they seemed to do often. Lucky, Winters new Chansey, was looking around the centre in awe while also helping Joe along. The nurse at the counter took one look at the trainers and immediately rushed over to help them.

"Oh my god. What happened to you three?" She asked. What's wrong with his leg?" She asked.

"Metal Jaw traps." Rocky explained to her. "Team Rocket somehow got into the Safari Zone. They're gone now. We fought them off but there may still be some traps lying around." The nurse gasped.

"Oh my god! Are you all right?" She asked Joe. Joe nodded, exhausted.

"I'm fine." He gasped in slight pain and discomfort. "I just need a rest. I'm exhausted."

"Well give me a minute to help fix your leg then you three can sleep here for the night." The nurse explained. "We have a couple of beds for you to sleep on. We keep them for the trainers waiting overnight for their Pokémon, as you probably know."

"We did know." Winter explained and helped sit her friend down. Joe laid his injured leg on the bench and pulled the end sleeve up. The nurse looked at the cut that was still visible and tutted.

"That's a pretty nasty wound, Mr. Glende." She deduced. Joe winced as she placed a wet sponge on the injury. "I'll get Chansey to use her medical skills on you then I'll bandage you up and you can rest." She chirped, sweetly.

"Thank you nurse." Joe coughed. It was surprising how cold it was getting considering the seasons had just reached the end of summer. Winter hadn't arrived yet. She had gone to get him a glass of water. Rocky sat down next to him. For several minutes they said nothing. Then finally Rocky broke the silence.

"The nurse is quiet nice isn't she." He said. Joe turned his head slowly towards him, unsure whether Rocky was hinting at something.

"What?" He asked.

"The Nurse." Rocky repeated. "She's quite nice." Joe sat up slightly.

"Are you trying to imply something?" Joe asked. Rocky shook his head.

"No." He said, quickly. "I just thought, you know, she's quite nice. Maybe more nice then the other nurses around Kanto."

"Rocky, they all look the same." Joe told him. "They're all sisters."

"I know that." He explained. "I just thought that she quiet liked you." He said cunningly. Joe didn't smile back.

"I'm not interested in her." He explained. "I'm thirteen." Rocky nodded.

"Right." He sighed.

"Why were you asking me that?" Joe asked him, confused. "What, do you like her and want to know if I do too?" Rocky shook his head immediately.

"Oh no." He said simply. "No. I'm not into women." There was a long silence.

"Then… you're…" Joe began to ask. Rocky interrupted him.

"Don't panic. You're not my type." He interrupted. A smile crept across his face. Joe did not smile back. He just sat there for several seconds, totally surprised and confused. Finally Winter came back, after what seemed like an eternity, carrying his drink.

"There you are." Joe said upon seeing her. "What took you so long?" He asked. Winter looked at him, unhappy.

"Sorry. I couldn't find any glasses." She apologised, ungratefully. She passed him the glass and sat down next to them. Chansey had finished fixing up his leg and had just begun to bandage it up now. She had been listening to Rocky and Joe's entire conversation and was giving them a disgusted look. "Are you feeling any better now?" Winter asked. Joe nodded, taking a sip from his cold drink and gulping it down.

"Yes, thanks." He croaked, nearly choking as he glugged the drink down. The sun had burned their faces slightly; especially Joe's who had been lying out under it for several minutes unconscious. Outside the purple light died away. Ralph gave a tired yawn from behind them. After a minute or so later the nurse returned again and joined Chansey.

"Good job, Chansey." She chirruped, patting the Pokémon on the head. "Looks like she's all done now, Mr. Glende. Are you feeling any better?" She asked.

"A lot better." Joe replied, getting up onto his feet. His friends immediately stood up to help him.

"Oh, by the way. Your Pokémon are all healed now." The Nurse continued, strolling over to her counter and handing back each of the trainers Pokémon. Joe took his belt back and strapped it to his waist. Winter hooked all three pokéballs to her belt and Rocky slotted his into their bag holds. "Your rooms are just down the hall way, should you want to sleep now." The Nurse continued.

"Thanks." Winter replied as she helped Joe towards the sleeping rooms. Rocky and Ralph followed after them. Ralph seemed a little too awake still. He had been trying to ready his trainer up to fight Team Rocket and instead he had gotten injured. Ralph felt pretty bad about having left him like he did. But in the end what could he have done. At least Joe wasn't badly hurt. His leg wasn't broken and the wound was healing quickly, hopefully it would be healed by tomorrow. His spirit was also still intact as well. All in all it hadn't been to bad. But there was something nagging at the back of Ralph's mind. Some doubt. Something trying to tell him something, to warn him. He felt like something was going to happen soon. What it was though he didn't have a clue.

A few hours later and all of them had managed to fall asleep. Rocky was snoring soundly on a foam bed near a small window. Winter was sleeping on a blow up mattress on the other side of the room. Joe and Ralph meanwhile lay in the middle of the room on a solid foam bed on the floor. He had placed a pillow under his bandaged leg to keep the blood flowing through it. They both lay next to each other, unable to sleep, neither of them managing to drift away. It wasn't because they were uncomfortable but because they were too comfortable. They had spent the last few days sleeping on solid ground with sleeping bags. These beds felt like heaven. No, it was just their minds that kept them awake. They could feel the cogs of time ticking into place around them. Something was going to happen. Something big. Something serious. Something that would change their lives more than ever before. Whether that was a good or a bad thing was yet to be seen. Joe turned over. Many thought seemed to cross his mind. For some reason they mostly seemed to be about whom he was. Who was he? Was he a hero, a coward, a child, a man, a human being, a Pokémon, a mistake in evolution? Many of these thought clouded his mind. One piece of irrefutable truth sat at the centre of it all.

"I am here. And I am with my friends." He thought. "That I know for sure." He rolled over and found himself looking out of the far right window. Outside rain had begun to fall. The tiny droplets tapped against the glass panes and poured down to the bottom where they sat, a dribbling river over a cliff edge. He sighed and closed his eyes. When they opened again he was standing in the long corridor again with the five doors to the left, right and in front. He sighed. "Oh great, I'm here again." He thought. He glanced to at each of the doors. Something was different this time. The first two doors had metal bars and heavy locks on them now. He supposed this was because he had already seen the memories that lay inside. He found his legs moving him forwards and within seconds he was standing at the second door on the left side. He reached out, grabbed the cold metal handle and heaved it slowly open. The world faded to white. When it returned he found himself sitting in his old room at Suroway Farm. He looked around. The room was a lot different then he remembered it being when he left. Instead of the walls being covered in posters they were covered in Childs drawings. The Drawing seemed to consist mainly of different Pokémon, some commonly recognised, others rarer. One drawing in particular seemed to resonate to him. It was a drawing of a tall, pink skinned, bipedal Pokémon with a long, whip like blue tail that linked to its fat blue underbelly. It had two large bug eyes and two long hands with three fat tipped fingers. Its name escaped him at that moment but he remembered that when he was around the age of 9 he used to suffer nightmares involving this very Pokémon. The next day he'd gotten rid of it. He remembered feeling as though the drawing was watching him, creating those nightmares and torturing his mind in his sleep. He reached out and touched the edge of the page. The sketch looked recent, maybe done an hour or two before. He looked back. The room had suddenly got very dark. Somehow night had reached him in seconds and shrouded the room in its darkness. Outside the moonlight reflected of the hilltops and bounced against the window, lighting up the end of the room where Joe was standing. He could hear a quiet whimpering from the other side of the room. He saw movement coming from the bed. It was him, age 9, curled up on his bed covered by the sheets and quivering. He must have been suffering from a nightmare and if Joe had his dates right it was the day that the nightmares started. He stood there watching for several minutes. Something passed by the window suddenly. Joe glanced out, just missing whatever had passed. The hillside was completely silent. The air around him seemed to become thicker, like fog. Something began to appear before him. It looked ghostly and misshapen. As it faded in Joe could see its back, which was covered in dark purple spines and two large purple horns atop its fat head. It stood there watching the bed for several seconds. Young Joe continued to shiver in his bed, appearing to sweat now. The ghostly Pokémon looked back and at the older Joe. He backed away but quickly realised it wasn't looking at him, it was looking through him. He stepped aside and its gaze did not follow. It just stared at the drawing of the tall Pokémon on the wall. Its smile grew in size and sinister. It turned back around and raised its hands up to its chest. As it did so the air began to ripple. The young Joe began to toss and turn, the creature sitting before him seemingly causing his pain. It seemed to be using some kind of move to give him nightmares, supposedly feeding off the pain he was creating. Older Joe watched as it fed of his dreams. Something scrabbled at the window. Joe assumed it was a moth, nothing important… until suddenly the window flung open with a heavy gust of wind, sending him scattering backwards in surprise and the Pokémon by the bed spinning around in shock. It glanced out of the window but couldn't see anything. Joe looked out as well but again the hillside was motionless. He looked back and gasped in surprise. Someone was standing behind the creature. Two large yellow eyes glared at the back of its head, illuminated against the darkness around them. Slowly, carefully, the creature turned back around. Their eyes met. The small white cheeky eyes and the large yellow sharp eyes. The creature grinned up at it and let out a small cackle. A pair of large thin purple wings unfolded in front of it. A set of bright white teeth appeared under the yellow piercing eyes. Suddenly one of the wings lashed out, bringing the figure's purple side into view. The creature jumped aside and hit the bed stand, yelping 'Gengaaar' as it did so. The figure that had attacked looked like a Crobat.

"Ralph?" He asked. The figure could not hear him. This was a memory after all. While the figure was definitely a Crobat it was not Ralph. As Joe looked closer he spotted several scars dotting its body. One scar in particular looked menacing; a large gash that spread down the right side of its face and down the eyelid, giving the eye it went over a milky white tint. The wings on its right side seemed damages, having cuts and nicks running down the rim and a couple of small holes dotter onto the flaps. It lashed out again, hitting the Gengar away from the bed and into the far wall. The Gengar passed through the wall and jumped out of the Crobats shadow in an attempt to take it by surprise. Crobat however had prepared for this attack. It spun around and lashed out with its wing, hitting Gengar with an aerial ace and sending it flying through the roof. It reappeared by at the window, holding itself up with its hands and glaring at it, its smile turning into that of annoyance. It then jumped from the side and disappeared into shadow and into the night. Crobat sighed, glad of its success. He looked back at the bed. The boy was still sleeping, more peacefully now that the Gengar had been vanquished. It smiled peacefully and turned to the window. As it glided quietly out it took off for the hillside. Older Joe watched it. He saw it heading for the hilltop, the same point where he and Ralph had battled. There stood another figure, the same one Joe had seen before, during the dreams he had had before. The figure with the black suit and hat, shadow covering his face. He stood there and waited as the Crobat headed straight for him. Joe's perspective changed, leaving him standing a few metres away from the figure. He could see the battle scared Crobat arriving now and perching on his outstretched arm. A smile became visible across the figures face.

"Excellent work, Ares." The figure said, presumable to the Crobat. It nodded respectfully. The figure stroked its head. "Now the boy needn't fear the night." he continued, supposedly talking about Joe. Why would he worry about Joe being attacked at night by a Gengar? How did he even know it would be there? The figure Looked back up the window. "In ten years or so he'll be ready. Ready to fulfil his own story. And by then I imagine your own child will be born." He added, turning back to the Crobat who was nodding in agreement.

'Cro' it agreed. The figure continued to smile.

"We need him to get our plan to work. That damned child already closed down our group. Now I get word a small selection of them plan to reform. That cannot happen, especially if _he_ leads them." He muttered. Joe was just able to hear what was said. Crobat nodded sadly. "Our plan must work, for the sake of the world it must. There can be no excuses." He turned back to the Crobat, releasing it from his hand and into the air. Crobat hovered there, watching and listening patiently. "I fear we may need to complete the experiment." The figure continued. "Full genetic reconstruction. The first successful machine born Pokémon clone. A full clone of you, my friend" He chuckled; Crobat didn't seem to join in. "I wonder what I will call it?" He wondered aloud, turning around and beginning to walk back down the hill, away from the farm. "Something Scandinavian like Eric or Kaden or even Jericho." He snapped his fingers. "I've got it. The perfect name for him!" He paused. "Ralph!" He laughed. "The Wise Wolf! Ralph! I like it!" He cackled away as he walked into the night. Ares, his Crobat, followed quickly after him. Joe just stood watching, stunned by what he had just herd. This figure that had appeared in his dreams had created his closest friend. He didn't know what to believe. This was a dream. Maybe it was just his mind playing with him. Maybe it was not.

"Ralph?" He whispered as the world faded into blackness around him.

He awoke with a jolt, the memory of the dream beginning to fade from his mind already. He glanced around. No one else had woken up. It looks like this time he didn't shout out. He looked down at his watch. Only an hour had passed by since he fell asleep. He sighed again. A shadow passed by the windowsill. Joe sat up, seeing it slide by. He leaded out of his bed and look through the window. Nothing. Some must have passed by. He heard movement in the lobby and the glass doors sliding open. He nudged Ralph to wake up. He grumbled and looked up. Suddenly he became alert by the sounds he could hear. They both looked down the corridor before them. They could here illegible shouting and suddenly footsteps getting closer. The door swung open, awaking everyone in the room. Ralph raised a wing but stopped in his tracks. In the doorway stood the recognisable soaking wet, scruffy figure of Tom, the group's friend, wearing a thin yellow raincoat over his gear.

"Tom?" Joe asked, surprised by his sudden entrance. Tom looked at each of them, panting heavily.

"Get up, quickly!" He huffed. The four of them looked to each other, unsurely.

"What's up?" Winter asked, sleepily.

"We have a real problem going down!" He exclaimed, not very calmly. "It's team Rocket! They've attacked!" He gasped.

"What do you mean they've attacked?" Joe asked. Tom leaned against the door. He had clearly run a long way to get to them.

"They're attacking Pallet town right now!" He gasped. "They were shouting something about Professor Oak's work. We need to get there and stop them, Now!"

The four trainers rushed out of the Pokémon centre, still pulling jackets, shirts and trousers on as they hurried out to where Tom had parked. To the side of the centre his Fearow was waiting, having brought him all the way there. Currently it was chowing down on a fishy meal which Tom had given it to restore its energy. He rushed up, stroked its long neck and hoisted himself onto its shoulders.

"Hold on a second." Joe shouted as he skidded to a stop beside the large brown bird. "I don't understand. Why are team Rocket attacking Professor Oak?" Tom looked back at him, an expression of slight desperation crossing his face.

"I don't know. But we need to hurry! Otherwise they may get what they came for!" he explained.

"But if your here then who's protecting the lab?" Winter asked, slipping her coat on to protect against the rising cold.

"Some of the trainers from Viridian and Pewter have come to help, even the gym leaders!" Tom replied.

"My brother's out there?" Rocky shouted in surprise over the roaring wind. Tom nodded.

"Now hurry up already!" he added, more annoyed.

"We don't have any Pokémon that can fly." Winter explained, shivering. "How are we meant to follow you?" Tom pulled out a couple of used poke-balls and passed them to both Rocky and Winter. They caught them and quickly opened them. Before them appeared a fully grown Pidgeotto and, surprisingly enough, a large stony prehistoric looking Pokémon called Aerodactyl.

"Did you catch these Pokémon?" Winter asked, a little surprised. Tom's teeth chattered, both with the cold and in annoyance.

"Yes, I did, now will you hurry up and get on them ready!" he snapped. Winter and Rocky shrugged and quickly climbed atop their new transport. Joe was about to do the same with Ralph when they suddenly heard someone calling for them from back inside. The Nurse came rushing out from the doorway, waving a hand at them.

"Hold on a second, children." She cried. Tom huffed in annoyance.

"Oh what the hell is it now?" he shouted hardly thinking about who he was shouting at. The Nurse gave him a quick unhappy glance.

"I cannot allow you to go flying out to fight Team Rocket with that leg." She snapped quickly, pointing down at Joe's bandaged limping leg. "You'll get hurt. I'll call the police and let them take care of the situation." She instructed, strictly. Joe slowly turned around to properly face her.

"By the time they get there Team Rocket will be gone." He explained. "We need to stop them! We're the only ones who have actually been successful at doing so multiple times." The Nurse still stood stubbornly before him.

"No. You rest while others sort it out. Your leg still needs time to heel. If you go running out into danger you could do even more damage." Joe didn't even consider what she had to say.

"I go to protect my home! Nothing you can say will stop me doing so!" He said slowly and strongly as if talking to an impatient child. The Nurse did not respond. Instead she continued to stare at the five of them, afraid for their safety. "Call the police if you like..." Joe told her, readying Ralph's harness and swinging his leg over his back. "But we are leaving!" He patted Ralph's back and leaned forwards, gripping his shoulders. Tom, Winter and Rocky got ready to fly on their Pokémon as well. In synchronisation then instructed... "Fly Up.". One by one each of the Pokémon took off into the air. First Fearow, then Aerodactyl, then Pidgeot, then finally Ralph. The Nurse just watched them from the ground, flying away into the night.

"How long till we arrive in Pallet town?" Winter shouted against the wind.

"An hour at best!" Tom shouted back. "So long as the wind is on our side!" Fortunately it was. The heavy night winds shoved against the backs of the flying Pokémon and lifted them up, catching in the feathers on their wings and propelling them faster forwards. Their trainers steered them in the direction they needed to go, either through command or leaning in that direction. They flew on in their small, multi-species flock for near an hour, passing over ocean, forest, field and road. Finally in the distance they could see a small cluster of light sitting in a large clearing of Forrest next to a small lock leading to the Kanto Sea.

"There!" Rocky shouted, his breath being stolen by the roaring wind. He pointed at the cluster of electric lights just visible in the distance.

"That's it!" Tom called to the others. "There's home!" He lent forward and Fearow dropped down, Readying to swoop in. The others followed suit. As the group got closer they began to hear fighting and fire became visible near the edge of the town. Someone was fighting. It was too dark to make out the figures just yet but most of the fighting seemed to be going down near the lab.

"Let's get down there and help." Joe called out, leaning forwards and readying and pokéball.

"Joe, wait!" Winter called out but Joe was already taking off, diving down on Ralph's back headed straight for the centre of the battle.

"We'd better get after him!" Tom shouted to them. "If we don't act now they may succeed in what they came for!" He too dived down after him, towards the mass of fighting people and Pokémon. Winter sighed as Rocky too followed suit.

"But we can't see who's on whose side." She argued with no one. Giving a disregarded sigh she lent forwards and Pidgeotto began flying downwards as well.

In the melee a multitude of characters were brawling. Rocket grunts in their black and red suits carrying a variety of tools and blunt objects were fighting back against a small cluster of police officers wielding batons. Young child trainers were using their Clefairys, Jigglypuffs, Pikachus, ratatta and other small and weak Pokémon to fight back a wave of Koffings, Sandshrews, Ekans and Raticates. At the centre of all of it stood two figures wearing the white uniform of the rocket commanders and in between them stood a tall, mysterious figure wearing a long white cloak. Under the cloak was the same white commander uniform except this one didn't have the large red R and looked more like a zip-less jumpsuit. His face was covered by a furry white bandana which covered his mouth and nose, even his eyes. Where his eyes should have been were two slots covered by a thin layer of red tinted glass. This one piece of clothing made him completely unrecognisable. He stood, arms shrouded by the white cloak in between the two commanders who had their Pokémon ready to battle. Suddenly out of the sky came a large shooting purple object headed straight for the commanders. On its back sat a young teenage boy holding four pokéballs in his hands and shouting at the top of his lungs. As Ralph dive bombed lower the crowd jumped aside, not wanting to be ploughed down by the now outstretched long wings. The commanders even prepared to dive aside. The white cloaked figure didn't move however. He stood watching the oncoming purple mass heading towards him. Joe readied himself to jump of Ralph's back and as they were seconds away from hitting the target he leapt backwards, rolling through the air and landing painfully on his feet. As he fell through the airs he threw all four pokéballs, releasing the rest of his team. Ralph kept going, flying straight toward the three commanders, ready to take them out. Suddenly the white figure's cloak began to move and something crawled out from underneath it. Ralph skidded to a halt as a large plume of fire burst out from underneath and headed straight for him. He shot upwards, just missing being singed by the flames but failing to hit the commanders and flew straight past, stopping in the air behind them. As he turned around he saw the creature that had attacked him looking back through the cloak at him. It was a Pokémon but not one of the more recognisable ones. It was at least four feet tall and had a long black doglike body with curved horns and thin, spike tipped tail. It had a grey bone like rib cage across its back and a thick bone like neck collar with weird grey jewel at the end fused to its skin. It growled at him and arched its back forwards, raising its evil looking tail into the air. The white figure stroked its neck, glancing down at it. He then turned back around to face the new arriving trainers, his commanders getting back up onto their feet and the grunts getting prepared to fight again. Tom and the others dropped down beside Joe, leaving their flying Pokémon out and releasing the rest of their team. A couple of grunts near the front of the line broke rank and charged head on at them, swinging hammers and baseball bats and wrenches and all kinds of stuff, even planks of wood. Joe looked to his Vaporeon.

"Nami, get ready!" he instructed. Nami nodded and prepared an attack. As the grunts got closer she released a long thin beam of sharp ice which struck the wet ground before the grunts and froze it solid. As it did so the grunts ran over it. Some of them slipped as the ground underneath them turned to ice while others got their feet trapped in the fast freezing water. Nami nodded to her trainer and gave a smug smile at her work. The other grunts began to mutter to each other. They were unsure what to do next. The trainers that were still standing within the mass rushed back to join their sides, figuring that these new trainers knew what they were doing and would be able to take care of the problem. Now the group had a small army behind them. The commanders stepped forwards now, cleared all around by the grunts. Commander Cheng glared at the four trainers who had just arrived. He caught sight of the boy in the blue jacket and the purple Crobat and he growled.

"Them!" Commander Wharton hissed. He looked to his accomplice.

"Delay these fools as long as you can." The white figure whispered into their ears. "Tell some of the men to go for the lab while they're distracted." The Commanders nodded. Cheng raised an arm.

"Attack!" He roared. Immediately the grunts charged in, weapons readied and Pokémon enraged. The trainers around them immediately jumped into action. Police officers leashed their Growlithe's on charging grunts, melting their weapons and dragging them over. Trainer Pokémon teamed up together to bring down the larger grunts and their weakling Pokémon. Someone began calling out to them from the crowd of charging trainers.

"Rocky!" A young male voice called out. "Rocky! Over here!" The group looked around. Running towards them was the brown clothed, brown haired, tanned, blue eyed form of Rocky's younger brother.

"Gordon!" Rocky cried rushing up and hugging his brother close. "It's so great to see you again!" He laughed.

"It's good to see you, too, bro." Gordon Chuckled. "I'll ask how you've been when we've dealt with the problem at hand." Then he noticed the others joining them. He recognised Joe and Winter but not the other trainer. He assumed he was another friend of theirs.

"It's been a long time since we last met." Joe told him.

"I guess." Gordon shrugged. "I can see your team has grown." He added, looking between all of Joe's team.

"How's yours been doing?" Joe asked in return.

"Good." Gordon told him. "Now it's just me I've needed to make my team bigger." They heard shouting and saw a frenzied grunt wielding a wooden plank rushing towards them. "Now you'll get a chance to see them in action." he added. He clapped his hands and the ground underneath the grunt began to break away. The grunt stopped and began to lose his balance as it shook and broke away. Suddenly two Pokémon burst through it. One was a large Sandslash - Clearly Gordon's sandshrew had evolved at some point - and the other was a Dugtrio, the evolution of Diglett. It was basically three digletts joined together. The grunt fell through the hole they had left and the two Pokémon looked down at it. Sandslash jumped back down and began beating up the grunt till he fainted. The two Pokémon then returned to their trainer and waited for command. Gordon knelt down in front of them and patted them each. "Good work guys." he praised. Both Sandslash and Dugtrio smiled back.

"Gordon, who else is hear?" Winter asked. "Has anyone from the other cities come to help?"

"Not yet." Gordon told them simply. His eyes caught on something behind them coming in from the sky. "But it looks like they're arriving now." He added, nodding behind them. They turned. Behind them, flying in on a huge orange dragon were two trainers. The first one, a boy, was wearing a grey sleeved shirt with orange chest and a small opal printed onto the front with red trousers and a grey, orange and red half cap. The second trainer, a girl, was wearing a long dark blue gown with black boots and a black coat. Her hair was long and night black and she wore a ghostly hair restrained on the top of her head. As they flew past the dragon Pokémon released a huge right beam of light, knocking out a huge row of grunts and Pokémon. The trainers jumped from the large Pokémon and landed before the group, large smiles on their faces.

"Oh my god. Joe. Winter. Rocky. Ralph! It's so great to see you all again." The girl smiled hugely. The trio gasped, realising who they were.

"Cheyenne? Malcolm?" Joe gasped in surprise. The two trainers nodded. They looked so different without their costumes on.

"That's us." Malcolm agreed. "Draco-Knight and Silhouetta. At least that's what we did call ourselves, remember." He reminded them.

"More friends of yours?" Gordon asked. Winter nodded.

"Team Rocked tricked them into fighting each other so they dressed up as superheroes to fight to protect Cerulean. We helped sought out the problem and beat the Rockets." Winter explained quickly.

"You helped us solve our differences and protect our home." Cheyenne explained. "Now we've come to do the same for you." Joe gave them a slight joyful smile.

"Thank you." he said, quietly but gratefully.

"Where are your Pokémon?" Rocky asked. Malcolm glanced at the dragon they had ridden there. The dragon itself was around seven feet tall with a orange brown hide and pale stomach. It had two tiny wings and a fat long tail with slight jagged spine. Its face was fat and cuddly; nothing like what any of them had imagined a dragon to look like. It was not the same Pokémon they had seen him with last time they met.

"This is Dragonite." Malcolm introduced. The large dragon nodded humbly. "Yeah, Dratini evolved." he explained simply.

"Gengar should be around here somewhere." Cheyenne added. Just as she said so her shadow began to shimmer and rise out of the ground, revealing the fat, purple, spiny, ghostly Pokémon. Cheyenne smiled. "There you are." She smiled. "It's time to get to work again." she told it. Gengar's smile grew to twice the size and it rubbed its hands together.

"A lot has happened since we last met then?" Joe deduced. Cheyenne chuckled.

"Pretty much so." She agreed. She turned to see her Gengar jump out from one of the grunts shadows and grab them around the head, pulling them to the floor and knocking them unconscious.

"So shall we get too it, then?" Malcolm asked, rubbing his own hands now. Tom pumped a fist into the air which Joe met with his own fist.

"Alright gang." he told them. "Les deal with this lot." He pointed to the lab. "They're sending grunts to the lab to steal something important. Whatever that is they must it get it." he pointed to Rocky and Gordon. "If you two can block their way by any means necessary then we may be able to stop them in their tracks." He explained. Rocky and Gordon nodded.

"We can do that." Gordon told him honestly. Rocky chuckled.

"It'll be just like old times!" he smiled. Gordon smiled back.

"Just like old times." He agreed. They immediately headed off for the lab, their Pokémon joining them as they dodged put of the way of trainers, grunts and Pokémon.

"The rest of you need to keep the grunts back away from me." Joe continued. "I'm going to take care of the Commanders and finish this fight before it truly begins."

"That's mad!" Tom told him. "You can't take on all three of them, they'll crush you!"

"I need to try." Joe explained. "I need you four to keep back the attacking grunts in case they decide to try taking me out while I'm fighting." he glanced back at Ralph on the other end of the field. He was currently cut off by the strange dark Pokémon standing before him. "I need to get Ralph back, first." He added. He turned to the grunts and stepped forwards, heading towards the commanders. The white figure followed his path, watching interested. He pointed forwards and Cheng stepped up.

"Deal with him." he could be heard whispering the command. Cheng nodded and readied his Pokémon. As Joe stopped, standing several metres away from him, the commander in clipped a poke-ball, passing it from hand to hand.

"You never seem to learn." Cheng snapped at him. "When will you stop standing in our way?" he asked, rhetorically. Joe snarled.

"When you stop hurting my friends, killing my team and attacking my home!" Joe shouted at him. Cheng was taken aback.

"Your home?" He asked. "You live here? In this town?" Joe looked suspicious.

"Why does that matter?" he asked, cautiously. Cheng shrugged the thought away.

"It doesn't" He replied, unemotionally. "Now step away before I am forced to defeat you." Joe laughed quietly.

"How about you reverse that?" He snarled, setting Cinders in front of him to attack. "You step away before I defeat you both." Cheng didn't show any emotion.

"You're brave, kid, I'll give you that." Cheng smirked. "But forget our past battles. This time the outcome shall be different." his Raticate took its place on the battlefield to fight for its master. Joe lowered his head.

"I don't imagine so." he whispered and the battle began.

"Crash, Rock Throw!" Rocky commanded. His huge stone Onix flicked its large tail and hurled a collection of large rocks towards the charging grunts. The rocks blocked their path, knocking them back as they landed heavily on the wet ground.

"Sandslash, use Dig!" Gordon instructed. Gordon tapped its claws together and burrowed its way underground. A few seconds later it popped back up and the ground underneath the grunts collapsed away, burying them all. The two trainers then hurried for the lab. The Commander had already reached it and pushed his way inside and there was shouting conning from inside now.

"Damn it all." Rocky cursed. "Why do these criminals have to so difficult? Especially their commanders. They're the worst of them all."

"You sound like you've met them before." Gordon noted. Rocky nodded.

"We have." he admitted. "Several times in fact." Gordon thought for a few seconds.

"Then you must know how to beat him?" Gordon asked. Rocky shook his head.

"Joe usually does the battling with the commanders. We usually watch his back." Rocky admitted. "We just need to stop their commander from getting what he was after." He explained. The duo arrived at the doorway to the lab now. Before they rushed inside however they saw Commander Wharton pushing his way out, carrying a small red pad like device under his arm. He barged past the two ex-gym leaders like they were just bystanders. Rocky immediately set to fight him. "Crash, block him." he commanded. Crash swung its tail out and the long line of cut stone crashed onto the ground in front of the commander. Wharton stopped in his tracks, looking up in surprise at the large stone snake in his way. Slowly a sinister smile began to grow on his face. He turned around and laughed at the two trainers.

"Oh, so it's going to be like that, is it?" he chuckled, straightening his hat. Primape dropped down in front of him, flexing its muscles and cracking its hands. Wharton glared at the two trainers from down his nose. "Just try and stop me." He grimaced. Rocky and Gordon did not back down.

"Crash, wrap them up!" Rocky instructed. Crash swung its tails forward and tried to grab them both with his tail but Primape threw a solid punch into his solid side and stopped the attack in its tracks. The stone where it hit cracked and Crash screamed in pain.

"Sandslash, Dugtrio, dig it out!" Gordon commanded. Both Pokémon dug their way down and lunged back up to hit them but as they did so Primape reached out and grabbed the two by their necks and them in the air. It simply bonked their heads together and threw them to the side, unconscious. "I'm out." Gordon shouted. The battle wasn't going well.

"Crash, tackle it! Chopped, Low Kick! Mina, Bone Rush! Ely, Confusion!" Rocky instructed each of his Pokémon. They all immediately made their attacks. Crash charged forwards to strike Primape in the chest but it jumped aside just as Chopper came it with his attack. His foot hit Crash's lower body and caused him to fall forwards and land on Chopper himself. Primape then grabbed Crash's tail and threw him high up into the air. He remained in the air for several seconds before finally hitting the ground behind them with a heavy thud, sending dirt and earth up into the air. Chopper came in for another attack but Primape grabbed his swinging fist and head butted him, sending him stumbling backwards dazed. Mina rushed in and tried to hit Primape with her small bone club but Primape simply stepped aside and Mina's attack missed. Primape then spun a full circle on one leg, holding the other leg out and kicking Mina in the face and knocking her over. Primape then picked her up and threw her at Ely as he released his confusion attack. The attack hit Mina, knocking her unconscious and her body landed on Ely, knocking him over at the same time. As Ely Pushed his unconscious ally off of him Primape grabbed him around the trunk and spun him around in the air, releasing him and sending him flying through the air and he landed unconscious at his trainers' feet. Only Chopper was left now. He readied his fist which began to glow bright brown and he rushed forwards to make his attack. As he swung in Primape made the same attack, powering up its fist till it glowed a bright dark brown and swung forwards. The two attacks collided and the power from both of them collided. The force created from the two was enough to send both Pokémon flying, pushed back by a sudden incredible burst of energy. The two landed twenty metres away from each other, stunned and battered. Chopper was the first to get back up. He wiped the mud and dust of his arms and charged in again, palm flat to chop at his opponent. As he was about to strike Primate suddenly shot up into the air and struck him in the face with his foot, sending him flying unconscious at his trainers feet. Rocky and Gordon could only watch as both their teams were flattened by the Commander and his Pokémon. Wharton smirked, self satisfactually and turned back around, stepping over Crash's unconscious form as he continued his path back to the other Commanders.

Cinders' sharp claws raked through the air towards Cheng's Raticate and struck it across the side of the face, knocking it out instantly. Cheng growled and withdrew his Pokémon.

"Arceus damn you, child!" He muttered. Joe smirked.

"Giving up?" He asked, mockingly. Cheng snarled.

"Not on your short life!" he hissed. He pointed at Cinders and turned to his final Pokémon, Arbok. "Crush them!" He instructed. Arbok cackled in its rattling hissing voice. It reared upwards and readied to lung at them. Cinders gathered flames in its mouth. Arbok lunged, jaws wide and got a mouth full of white hot fire. It yelped and recoiled in surprise, writhing in immense pain as its mouth was singed. Cheng roared in annoyance. "Stop messing around and get them!" he demanded, stamping his foot in anger and yelling at his cringing Pokémon. Arbok whimpered and slithered back into the fight. It tried to fight back but Cinders was too strong for it. He fired a smokescreen to blind it and keep it distracted, then rushing in with a Slash attack and striking Arbok's belly. He then bit hard on its tail causing it to screech in pain and bite back. Cinders managed to dodge its large fangs and drought his small arms down solid on the back of its head. He then proceeded to jump onto Arbok's arched back and pull it back, breathing flames into the back of its head. Arbok couldn't take the pressure and pain any longer. It wailed like a police siren before collapsing to the floor and curling up in a coil, unconscious. Cheng stood baffled, furious and still stunned by the constant outcome.

"It looks like I won after all, Commander. Joe mocked, patting Cinders' head as he returned to his side. Cheng's good eye twitched uncontrollably. He narrowed his brow, viciously.

"You..." He mumbled. "You...?" He exclaimed. "You!" He roared. He grabbed his hat and threw it on the floor, crushing it under his foot. For the first time Joe could see that the commander's hat had actually been hiding a clean cut set of greying brown hair. The right side was slightly longer then the left side and spiked up slightly near the back. The white figure waived a hand, dismissively, catching Cheng's attention.

"Calm yourself, Commander." an unrecognisable voice instructed. The voice sounded young but had the strength and cool of a hardened army veteran. It appeared to be the voice of the white figure, supposedly a higher commander of Team Rocket. He was speaking loud enough for everyone to hear him now. Everyone stopped fighting the second he uttered his first syllable. His voice had so much strength that it commanded the attention of everyone around him. Winter, Tom, Malcolm and Cheyenne stopped their fighting with the grunts and watched as Joe confronted this new opponent. The white figure stepped forwards, leaving his horned dog Pokémon behind him to keep Ralph back. The figure stopped after seven small steps forwards and now he stood in front of Commander Cheng. "What is your name, child?" He asked, simply yet calmly. Joe looked suspicious.

"Why should I tell you?" he asked in response, keeping an ear open for any reason to distrust his words. The figure seemed to laugh.

"A challenger should learn the name of his opponent." he explained simply. "So he may pay his respects after their defeat." He tilted his masked head to the right slightly. "So then, Champion of Pallet... What are you named?" He asked again.

"Joe." Joe told him, still suspicious.

"Your full name!" the figure repeated. Joe sighed, not sure if he should tell him.

"Joseph Glende." he told him, finally. The figure seemed to recognise the name.

"Glende?" he repeated. "That Is a name I have not heard for a long time." He glanced to his commander. "So this is the child who has been messing with our work... With your tasks?" He glared at Cheng. The commander gulped, rubbing the back of his neck. Sweat began to pour down his brow.

"I...it's not like that." he fumbled, exaggerating his hands. "We weren't prepared. We didn't have the strength. You saw him fight, you saw it all. He's much stronger then he looks." Joe smiled. It seemed like the commander was actually complementing him rather than insulting. The figure waved a hand and for a second Joe caught a glimpse of something metal and shiny covering his palm and finger tips.

"Excuses, Commander." He snapped. "No more excuses. The fact is you let this boy beat you. Both of you did. Failure is not an option for us anymore. Luckily for you we were able to obtain the pieces we needed to finish our work, even if it was half destroyed or buried in mud and water." at that precise moment Commander Wharton arrived, carrying the red notebook device. He knelt before the figure and handed the device forwards.

"Hey, that's my pokedex!" Tom shouted. Joe turned back to see his friends stunned face. "How did they get that?" He demanded. The figure glanced at him for a second.

"You left it with Professor oak." He explained simply. "Once the professor was dealt with it was easy pickings." Tom growled.

"What did you do with Professor Oak?" Tom shouted, anger rising in his voice. If they could have seen his face they would have seen that the white figure was smiling.

"Oh don't worry. He is safe. He won't be a problem for now, though." he smirked. Tom growled.

"You monsters!" he whispers. The figure turned back to his kneeling commander and took the pokedex from his hands. He immediately began to break the device open, using his metal fingers to break open the shell. He then pulled out a small memory card with all the information on the worlds Pokémon on it and held in in his metal covered palm. The figure was wearing a pair of white gloves with metal tipped fingers and electric wires running down the side, leading back down his arm. The palm was covered in a strange blue and grey metal at the centre which seemed to shimmer a ripple with light.

"What now, Commander?" Wharton asked. The figure glanced back down at him.

"Now?" he asked, a hint of disapproval in his voice. "Now you watch me finish what you should have done yourself." Wharton seemed surprised. He stuttered on his words.

"But, sir, I have done everything you have asked. I have taken care of every problem that stood in our way..." the figure immediately stopped him.

"Did you, now?" he snapped. Wharton shrunk away. "If that is the case then why are these trainers standing here before me, trying to fight back? Why has this boy managed to defeat your grunts and you yourself on multiple occasions?" He demanded. Wharton did not respond.

"I'm sorry, sir." he whimpered. The figure turned on Cheng now.

"And you, commander." He continued to roar. "What have you done to prevent this situation, this confrontation? You refused to fight after killing a Pokémon because it was 'not right'? You have no spine anymore, Commander. When I took Command you swore allegiance and obedience to me. You lack both!" Cheng lowered his head in shame.

"You didn't want to keep working for Rocket after Lavender Town?" Joe asked quietly. Cheng looked at him from the corner of his eyes, an expression of apologetic sadness on his face. The figure calmed down again. He gripped the memory card between two fingers and laughed.

"Now I have the final piece!" he announced, sliding the card into a small slot down his arm. The wires along the glove began to spark and glow as electricity passed down them. The blue metal at the palm of the glove glowed bright and powerful. The figure cackled insanely. "Finally!" he cackled. "Finally I, Archer, Leader of Team Rocket, have the power I need to raise Team Rocket above the stars and take control of the world!"


	25. Chapter 25: Legends Are Not Born

Joe stood before the leader of Team Rocket, being the only person to stand in their way. Their leader, Archer as Joe had now realised his name was, wore a large metal glove on the one hand which was glowing with multiple colours. He continued to cackle away as the power from the glove surged through his body and gave him unimaginable abilities.

"You, child!" He roared. "Joseph Glende. You have stood in Team Rockets way for too long, halting our glorious path. But no more!" He raised his fist into the air. "Now that my Pokémon Move Emulation Device is complete there is nothing left in this universe that could stop me. Not even the great Giovanni could stop me!" He howled. The two other commanders looked at each other.

"I thought our job was to get Giovanni's attention and bring him back to power?" Cheng asked. Archer didn't seem to respond. Then finally he spoke.

"It was our plan." He started. He then spun around suddenly to face the two kneeling commanders. "But where is he? Do you see him anywhere?" he panned his hand out before the crowd of rockets behind him. He then dropped it back to his side. "No, I don't see him." He spoke again. "Where is our illustrious leader when we call? Where is our champion when we have shown Team Rockets true potential?" He flicked his cape back, swiping a hand to the side. "He deserted us all, commander. He does not care for Team Rocket any longer. We are his unwanted children who he has dumped in the street gutter to die." He growled. "Well I for one refuse to die. I will not give up like he did. I will push Team Rocket into a new glorious age!" He shouted, raising his arms to the stars. A cheer came up from the crowd of grunts.

"Hail Archer!" They cried. "Hail Archer! Hail Archer!" Their leader bathed in their admiration. His hands slowly dropped back to his side.

"We are done here." He commanded suddenly. The chanting died away. "We have what we came for. Now we have no reason to be here. Our next objective is ours for the taking. Now all that needs taking care of is this young trainer before us." He pointed at Joe who had not moved since his talk started. His Pokémon stood by his side, ready to defend him when necessary. Joe growled.

"I will never back down." He said simple. Archer sighed.

"Suit yourself." He told him, simply. Winter shouted to Joe from behind.

"Be careful." She warned. "There's something not right about this. I wouldn't trust that weapon of his. Don't let him hit you with it." Joe nodded, gratefully.

"Uh, thanks." He called back. Tom shouted to him now.

"Go get 'em, lad!" he cheered. Joe gulped and turned back to the commanders. Archer sent his dog Pokémon out to fight first. As the black and grey Pokémon stepped forwards it left Ralph free to fly past and return to his friend. He glided past the commander and his pet and stopped at Joe's side. Archer chuckled.

"Your Pokémon are truly loyal to you." He laughed. "It is a pity. They look so strong yet you yourself are so weak. Why should they follow a leader who cannot fight for himself?" Joe snarled at him.

"You wanted a fight so you've got one." He snapped at him. "Now get ready for me to thrash you the same way I did with your commander." Archer chuckled.

"On the contrary." He laughed. "It is I that shall thrash you."

"Cinders, Slash!" Joe instructed. Cinders rushed forwards, claw raised and sharpened to cut at the opponent.

"Houndoom, Flamethrower!" Archer commanded. His Pokémon, Houndoom, jumped forwards, sailing agilely through the air and over Cinders' reptilian head. Cinders watched it sail overhead and turned to fight when he suddenly got a face full of hot, burning orange fire. He raised his arms and found himself being pushed backwards. It wasn't the heat of the attack that was hurting so much as was the sheer force that the flames created.

"Push it back with your own Flamethrower" Joe instructed. Cinders gathered heat inside his maw and smoke began to drift from his nostrils. He released a plume of red fire to combat Houndoom's orange fire. The attack pushed the opposing plume back till the two were combating at the centre. Houndoom pushed closer, causing his attack to create more force, causing Cinders more pain. Quickly the young Charmeleon was getting weaker. The fire he was creating was beginning to dwindle. Finally he pushed away, gulping in the charred air desperately, unable to keep up his attack. Houndoom had the perfect opportunity.

"Shadow ball!" Archer demanded. Houndoom pulled back it's head and brought it back up in a swift movement. A small ball of sinister blue-black energy was forming at the tip of its snout, growing larger by the second. Finally, when the ball was almost the same size as its body, it released it, sending the spinning ball of ghostly energy sailing through the air at almost invisible speed towards the exhausted Charmeleon. Before Cinders could even blink the ball hit him in the chest and evaporated into thin air, leaving a small shock wave of dark energy behind it. Cinders was sent flying backwards where he landed unconscious at his trainer's feet. Joe sighed, annoyed. Archer seemed to laugh quietly.

"Good try, Cinders." Joe whispered as he looked down at his injured friend.. He turned back to Archer and his men.

"Having second thoughts?" He mocked. Joe snarled.

"I still have four more Pokémon to fight." He growled at him. Archer his his hands back under his cloak.

"Not for long." he said quietly. Chansey rushed from Winters side to help Cinders. She stopped at his side and checked he was okay. The red lizard Pokémon coughed and kicked out. Chansey sighed with relief. At least he was still breathing. She grabbed him by the arms and slowly dragged him to the side of the battle where she could heal him up safely. Meanwhile Joe was readying to continue the fight.

"Nami your up." he told the young Vaporeon beside him. His reasoning was that this Houndoom Pokémon must be a fire type, so if he sent Nami out to fight it there would be little it could do to fight back. Nami nodded in understanding and took her place on the field, staring straight at Archer's Pokémon. Archer chuckled for some reason.

"Faint Attack!" he instructed. His Pokémon rushed forwards and suddenly dispersed into shadow. Nami stood, unsure what to do. Suddenly Houndoom reappeared in front of her, still charging. She yelped and jumped back in surprise but she didn't move far enough. Houndoom head butted her in the stomach, knocking her over and onto her side. It ran past and turned around, coming in for another attack.

"Use your tail to trip it!" Joe called. Nami did so. She lay where she was and when Houndoom came in to attack again lashed out with her tail and caught its front feet, tripping it up and onto its belly. It growled at her, mud covering its muzzle. "Now use Water Gun!" Joe instructed. Nami did so, firing a small blob of water from her mouth at Houndoom. Houndoom however was not helpless. It sat up and opened its jaws, spewing a fountain of fire out. To Nami and Joe's surprise her attack simply evaporated in the heat of the flame, failing to do anything to hurt it. Houndoom snapped its jaws shut again and grinned at her, evilly.

"Now, Houndoom, Use Solarbeam!" Archer shouted, his voice not faulting. Alarm bells rang inside Joe's head. He looked at Houndoom to see green light gathering in its mouth.

"Nami!" He shouted. "Look out!" to late. Nami turned to see a huge beam of bright green light shooting straight towards her. There was nothing Joe could do but watch as the beam struck Nami in the side and she disappeared into the green light. A few seconds later the light faded and...

"Oh no." Joe sighed. Nami lay on the ground, injured but breathing. The attack had knocked all of the energy out of her. Chansey immediately rushed to her side and helped her off the field. She sat the injured Vaporeon next to Cinders who was sitting; now awake again, at the side of the field. Both Pokémon would no longer be able to fight for the day. Now only Pitt, Pippy and Ralph were left to fight. Archer gestured with his gloveless hand.

"Dear me, boy." He tutted. "I thought that because my commanders had been bested by you you'd be a challenge. Now I can see you're no stronger than the rest of your friends." This comment made Joe angry. His brow narrowed and his ears began to flush red.

"I can still beat you!" He warned him. Archer shook his head.

"Don't get too confident." He mocked. Joe turned back to his remaining Pokémon. Pitt was next. He trundled forwards and stomped defiantly before his opponent. Houndoom released a flamethrower at him but Pitt blocked it with protect. Houndoom however found a way though the shield using a move called feint and caused a lot of damage to him. Pitt tried to push him back with Vine Whip and Earthquake but Houndoom dodged the attacks and jumped on him, bringing his jaws crunching down on Pitt's leg. Finally Houndoom finished him off with flamethrower and Pitt slid to the floor, unconscious. Chansey got Cinders and Chopper to help pull Pitt to safety as Joe kicked the ground and Archer rubbed his hands. Pippy tried his best but Houndoom finished him of in seconds, knocking him aside with shadow claw, burning him with flamethrower and crushing him with Crunch before Pippy could even make one attack. Now only Ralph was left. Archer clapped his hands, mocking applause and began to walk closer

"Well Well, what is this situation we have here?" he laughed. "Down to our last Pokémon. Whatever shall our valiant hero do?" he stopped, suddenly looking more sternly. "Surrender now and I may spare him." he told him. Joe shook his head. Not for one second did he believe that this man would show him kindness.

"No." He said simply, gritting his teeth. "I will not back down to you, no matter how bad the situation may be. Me and my Pokémon shall keep fighting till you are behind bars or I am no more." he announced, heroically. Archer sighed, disappointed.

"So be it." he hissed. He waved a hand in the air, commandingly. "Finish them." he said, calmly. Houndoom nodded and rushed forwards. For several seconds Ralph did not move. He just hovered in front of his trainer, watching Houndoom rushing towards him, Jaw open wide like a clamp. As Houndoom was about to strike Ralph shot upwards, dodging the attack. Houndoom glanced up at him, surprised to see Ralph diving back down. He struck Houndoom in the back, knocking it to the ground in pain. Ralph came back in for the attack.

"Use Poison Fang!" Joe called. Ralph readied the attack and shot forwards, biting down on Houndoom's neck and sinking his long fangs into its neck. Houndoom shook him of but already the attack was taking effect, poison seeping through the wound. It winced and scratched at the now reddening punctures on its neck, trying to remove the pain.

"Flamethrower it!" Archer roared.

"Wing Attack its legs!" Joe instructed. Houndoom let out a plume of fire and suddenly found itself flying forwards as Ralph flew in so fast he was almost invisible and struck out Houndoom's legs. He passed by with ease as Houndoom thudded to the ground. "Now take it out!" Joe instructed. Ralph shot upwards into the air and spun around, conning back down at incredible speed towards his opponent. Before Houndoom could get back into its feet Ralph crashed into its spine and knocked him unconscious. Joe exclaimed in disbelief. He had won after suck a gruelling battle. His friends clapped and cheered for him to. Archer however didn't react. He didn't even act like he had lost.

"So young." he muttered. "So arrogant!" He laughed. Joe looked surprised.

"I won, Commander!" he told him. "I won fare and square. Now hand back that memory chip and any Pokémon you may have stolen." For some reason Archer started to laughed.

"Since when did I say I would hand back the stuff if you won?" he chuckled. Joe blinked in disbelief. "No. I think I'll hold on to them for now." he turned and raised a hand, clenching his fist. Immediately the grunts began to disband, turning tail and heading for the trees. Cheng, Wharton, get the men back to HQ and set them up for the final phase." he spoke to his commanders. Joe was flabbergasted.

"You can't just take off with that stuff!" Joe called in disbelief. Archer looked back at him, seemingly smiling.

"Actually I can." he mocked. "Just watch me." He turned and started to walk away. In a desperate attempt to stop him Joe decided to attack while his back was turned.

"Ralph, stop him!" He commanded, desperately. Ralph shot forwards, wings outstretched. Archer kept walking, not paying any attention to the speeding Crobat. Ralph got ready to strike. Suddenly Archer spun back around, swinging his metal PMED glove out. The device was rippling with electrostatic and a bright yellow aura surrounded its outline. The clenched fist struck out and hit Ralph square in the face. Time stopped at the point that the glove impacted into Ralph's body. The next second he was flying backwards at incredible speeds, electricity crackling over his body and his wings crumpled in. A loud, ear piercing scream came from his spawning jaws. The poor Pokémon sailed through the air and lands din Joe's arms in immense pain. Joe held him under the wings for several second before looking stunned back at Archer. The Rocket Leaders head was turned, glaring back at the two of them.

"You shouldn't have done that!" He said, a sinister tone in his voice. He slowly turned around to face them, his PMED glove raised out. Bright white light was gathering at the knuckles. The light grew into the start of a bright beam. Joe gasped. Ralph Gasped. Their friends gasped. Even the commanders gasped. Before any of the could react Archer's hyper beam shot from his gauntlet and struck both Joe and Ralph. They disappeared into the bright light as the attack struck. The others simply watched, amazed. When the attack finally finished the light faded to reveal the ground around where Joe had been charred and burned to a crisp. Joe and Ralph lay on the burned ground, unable to move from the pain and strength of the attack. The attack had winded both of the completely. Joe couldn't feel his body and Ralph was barely conscious. Both of them lay gasping on the ground, unable to do anything but hold each other. Archer walked closer till he stood over them, tapping his metal glove with his free hand.

"JOE!" Winter screamed. She ran to help her friend but was stopped by Houndoom now standing back on its feet and keeping everyone else back. Joe coughed, painfully.

"Damn!" He gasped, exhausted and injured. His vision had gone double. Both Archers tutted and shook their heads.

"I warned you I'd win!" He mocked, his voice distorting slightly. "I said I would not spare either of you. Now look where you are! Beaten and lying at the feet of the leader of Team Rocket!" he raised his hand into the air. A glowing claw appeared in the light around it. "Now neither you nor your Pokémon shall trouble us anymore!" he raised the claw up, ready to stab.

"NO!" Winter cried but there was nothing she could do. There was nothing anyone could do but watch as the Leader of Team Rocket brought his fist down towards Joe and Ralph's chests.

Joe closed his eyes, waiting for the killing blow... But it never came. He opened one eye. A figure was holding Archer's attack back, blocking his PMED with a large square blue shield. The figure pushed Archer back, breaking his attack and knocking him away. The figure stood in front of Joe, defending him. He growled in a voice that Joe recognised.

"Get away from my Nephew!" he growled. Joe's eyes shot open. He saw the figure for who he was. Standing in front of him, defending him from Team Rocket, was his old Uncle, still looking the same as ever.

"Un..." Joe tried to pronounce, shocked. "Uncle?" His uncle turned around and held out a hand.

"It's good to see you, too, my lad" he smiled, warmly. Joe took his hand and lifted himself back onto his feet. "We'll talk more later. Right now I need to deal with this lot." his Uncle continued. He then let out a long and sharp whistle. Seconds later a large, red and orange striped wolf like Pokémon landed in front of him, facing the commanders, fire burning across his mane. Arcanine growled at its opponent. More Pokémon joined it on the field. A large Blastoise, an elderly female Venusaur, a Butterfree, a Dugtrio, A Kangaskhan, a Pidgeot and even Joe's old pet Growlithe, Blitz. Every one of his uncles Pokémon had turned up to fight. Archer growled annoyed.

"Out of my way!" he snapped viciously. "Or you shall face the wrath of Team Rocket!" Joe's uncle glared at him.

"Just try it." he egged on. He then raised a hand out. "Arco, use Fire Blast!" He instructed. Arcanine fired a star of burning fire at the commander who dowsed it with a water gun. "Cannon, Hydro Pump!" He continued. The Blastoise fired two large cannons of water at the commander who turned his back to it and covered himself from the attack. "Petal, Solarbeam! Bagu, Silver Wing! Tunnels, Magnitude! Sonic, Aerial Ace! Thumper, Mega Punch!" Joe's uncle commanded all his Pokémon at once. Venusaur released a flurry of cutting petals which fell down around Archer and burned where they touched. Butterfree created a glistening gust of wing which slashed and ripped at his clothes. Dugtrio shook the ground beneath him, causing him to lose his balance. Pidgeot struck out with a wing and slashed his cloak in half, opening up his back at the same time. Finally Kangaskhan threw a powerful punch into his chest knocking him backwards. Archer coughed in pain. He then stood up and backed away, withdrawing Houndoom as he did so.

"You one this one, Glende!" he snarled, glancing at Joe and Ralph. "But do not threat. You will see us again. And next time your uncle will not be there to guard you" and with that he spun around and promptly vanished in a puff of smoke. The other two Commanders were left standing where they had been. One by one they too disappeared but not before Joe's Uncle could notice them.

"Walker?" Commander Cheng asked. Joe's uncle glanced confused in his direction.

"Enlai?" he asked, just as stunned. Commander Cheng then brought his hand down on a device around his wrist and he too disappeared, leaving only the exhausted trainers standing around in the now fading darkness.

When morning came the fires had been extinguished and any damage done to the buildings had been looked at and sorted out. The people however were not recovering as quickly. The battle they had witnessed that night had been gruelling and had cost some of them their pets, their homes and even their lives. Joe and his friends had done their best to lend a helping hand with sorting out the town but there were just so much destroyed. Professor Oak had been found beaten in his lab. Tom had helped get the professor seen to but the fact remained that his pokedex had been destroyed. He had almost completed it, too. Joe had gone back to Suroway farm to get a new set of clothes. The ones he had been wearing were nothing but rags now, even his hat was singed. He slid a jacket on and looked in the mirror. The clothes he had found were pretty much the same as the ones he had worn before. The only major difference now was that the jacket and hood he wore was opposite colours to the last one, being black with a blue chest. He sighed. It had felt like so long since he last set foot in his room. He remembered how he used to look out of the window and wander what it would be like to travel with Pokémon. He used to run around in the fields and have pretend battles with his friends. He never imagined it would be like what it was. It was fun and was a genuine adventure. It was amazing being able to raze such incredible, such powerful, and such beautiful creatures. It had also been very tough, not just with catching them, teaching them and battling alongside them. The hardest part for him had been coming to turns with the fact that, no matter how strong they got, they were still mortal creatures. They could be killed just as easily as he could. It had been hard getting over the loss of Sting and the memory still haunted him. Once he was done changing Joe headed back downstairs to join his uncle and friends outside. Currently they were getting introduced to each other.

"It's nice to get to meet all of you." Joe's uncle said to the group of friends. They were all standing a small circle and shaking hands with the ones they hadn't met before.

"It's nice to meet you, too, Mr. Glende." Winter told him. He waved a hand.

"Call me Walker" he told her. She coughed embarrassed.

"Uncle, this is Winter." Joe told him, joining his friends' side. "The first human friend I made since my journey began." He chuckled slightly. "Though not when we first met" He admitted.

"Yeah." Winter agreed, joining in and laughing as well. "He kind of crashed into me and then we got into a fight... Then we got locked in a closet and here we are." She tried to stop laughing. Walker smiled at the two them.

"Sounds like you two are quite close." He remarked. The two of them chuckled and sheepishly stepped aside from each other. Joe coughed and turned to his next friend.

"These are the Pewter City Gym Leaders." He told his uncle, standing beside Rocky and Gordon and gesturing to them. "The Earth Duo. Me and Ralph took both of them on and won. Afterwards rocky decided to come with us."

"He didn't beat me straight away." Rocky interrupted. "No, my younger brother here had to lend him a hand, first." Joe's uncle laughed and Joe gave Rocky a slightly annoyed stare.

"Yes, thank you, Rocky." he said. Rocky smiled back at him. Joe continued on to his next friend. "Tom you should already know." He began. "Remember when we were younger and he'd come to play on the weekends."

"That's right." Tom joined in, slapping Joe on the shoulder. "Joe and I bumped into each other again in Viridian Forest. Since then we've been bumping into each other throughout Kanto." He smiled and patted Joe heavily on the shoulder again before backing away, a big grin on his face. Joe coughed.

"Well said." he told him. Tom nodded.

"Thank you." he smiled. Joe then moved to his next bunch of friends. He stopped in between Malcolm and Cheyenne, putting his arms around their shoulders. "And this is Draco-Knight and Silhouetta." he introduced. "And it's only just hit me how incredibly daft those titles are." He, Malcolm and Cheyenne chuckled slightly. "Seriously though. Malcolm and Cheyenne here were tricked into fighting each other by Team Rocket up in Cerulean City. But Me, Winter, Rocky and Ralph were able to sought out the problem and convinced them to work together. Now they're one of the best trainer duo's this side of the Kanto Sea." He smiled at the two of them. They both smiled back.

"Yeah, if your nephew and his friends hadn't turned up to help out then Team Rocket would probably be stronger than they are now." Cheyenne admitted.

"I don't know about 'best trainer duo' though" Malcolm argued. "I'm sure we're not that good."

"If you could take on team on your own then you must be pretty good." Tom told them. Both of them looked at each other and shrugged.

"I guess we are that good" Malcolm chuckled. Joe patted their shoulders lightly.

"Damn right you are." he smiled and stepped to his final friends. "And now I come to my last set of friends." He told his Uncle, stepping in front of his Pokémon. "My team." He announced. First he stood next to his Vaporeon. "This is Nami." he told him. "A trainer on route 8 gave her to me as a pet. The next day practically I evolved her into Vaporeon and now she's able to stand up to any opponent, not afraid." he scratched under her neck and Nami purred, lashing her tail against his side lightly. He let her go again and moved along, standing next to the fearsome Charmeleon. "And this is Cinders." He explained. "I met him at the day care centre on route 5 when he was a Charmander. The centre was under attack from Team Rocket and, with the help of our little friend here I was able to fight them off. Afterwards he decided to come along with me and then of course he evolved after an incident involving a cave-in in rock tunnel."

"A cave-in?" Walker gasped in surprise and concern. "Were you hurt?" He asked. Joe smiled and waved a dismissive hand.

"No." he said quickly. "No, no one was hurt, and thanks to Cinders here we were able to break our way out." he continued. Cinders smiled, cheekily and folded his red scaly arms, puffing a small cloud of smoke out from his nose. Joe rubbed his bald head kindly and moved onto his next team member. "Now here I have a Pokémon you may remember." He said, standing next to his large and proud Venusaur. "And if you don't this is Pitt, the Bulbasaur you sent me after beating Rocky and Gordon. Of course he's not a Bulbasaur anymore. Now he's a big lad." Joe laughed. Pitt chuckled and kicked him lightly with a front leg. Joe chuckled too and turned back to his uncle. He saw Flower stomping heavily up towards them slowly. She passed Joe and stood before Pitt, looking him up and down. Pitt smiled warmly. Flower smiled back, her smile more like that of a kind elderly grandmother. They both rubbed foreheads and their vines extended, wrapping around the others vines and holding each other above their heads. Joe's uncle chuckled.

"Well Flower definitely remembers him." he smiled. "She must have found it hard to recognise him. Last time she saw him he was much, much smaller." He laughed. Joe continued with announcing his team.

"Now we come to the smallest, cutest and most evasive of my team." Joe smiled and lowered his hand down. When he brought it back up he had the small yellow Pikachu sitting on it, scratching his ear. "This is Pippy. He likes apples." Joe told him simply. This got a laugh from the rest of his team and friends. Pippy looked back at them, not too sure what was supposed to be funny about it. "We met in Viridian forest and ever since he's been one of the most enduring friends I've had." he paused for breath. "And I wasn't lying about him being evasive. When I first met him he was stealing food from me and when I ran after him he disappeared, only to re-appear an hour later with another apple." Pippy nuzzled his small black nose on Joe's cheek and Joe stroked his furry back. His uncle smiled.

"Sounds like you've got a very solid team." he told him. Joe wasn't done yet.

"And last of all we have Ralph, my closest friend throughout my entire journey. He's been there for me since the start and has never left my side. He's saved me from Team Rocket, from falling out of a tree, from a cave in, from a Golem, from being kidnapped, from being shot, from being traps, from ghosts, from falling to my death, from so very much... But most of all he's stopped me from alone when I needed a friend the most. He's never let me down. He's never given up on me. Even when he couldn't win a battle he's proven to be the strongest Pokémon a trainer could ever ask for. He's my closest friend... And he never let me down." the group were silent for a solid minute. Then Joe's uncle sniffed.

"You really have grown quite a lot, my child." he smiled. "You're so different to when you left over a month ago. You were so nervous. Looking at you now you've changed so much. You're hardly the same boy." Joe smiled and glanced at his friends who were smiling back at him. "Only five Pokémon?" Joe's uncle asked suddenly. "Why do you have only five. You have room for one more on your team." Joe gulped. He'd have to tell him.

"I did have another Pokémon." he admitted, taking a heavy breath of oxygen. "A Beedrill of all things. The first Pokémon I caught. I named him Sting. He was reliable and he could take on any enemy furiously. In Lavender town we tried to stop Team Rocket from taking a ghost from the Pokémon tower. We succeeded in doing so but at a cost. I... lost Sting." He gulped, sweat and tears appearing on his face. "He..." he choked. "He died protecting Ralph. Bullet hit him in the heart. He didn't stand a..." Joe stopped the memory and the pain quickly coming back. Joe's uncle hugged him tightly, calming him and trying to make him feel better.

"I'm sorry, my boy." he told him, kindly. "I really am." Joe sobbed slightly. His uncle patted him on the back. "I can remember when I first lost a Pokémon. Landslide got her. She was trying to protect me. She was a Persian which I had raised from a Meowth and I named her..."

"Malin" Joe finished for him. "You buried her in Pokémon Tower." he finished. The dreams he had had were beginning to come back to him now. His uncle released his grip around him and stepped back, looking stunned and confused.

"How did you know that?" He asked. Joe gulped. Now he was in for it.

"Uh..." He stumbled, unsure on how to explain. His uncle continued to stare at him.

"I never told you that story before." He realised, continuing to stare confused at his nephew. "So how did you know my old Pokémon's name?" Joe took a deep breath.

"This is probably going to sound really strange..." Joe began. "But... For the past few weeks or so I've been suffering from... these strange dreams. At first I thought that they were random but they've been changing and everyone has been related to me in some way." Joe gulped. There was a deafening silence in which no one even moved for several minutes. Joe's uncle gulped and stepped backwards. His face had changed from confusion to a state of unknowing how to react.

"Tom, could you take the others inside for a minute." He asked finally, speaking in a slow yet firm voice. "I need to speak with my nephew privately. Make everyone a drink from the kitchen and we'll be inside shortly. Take his Pokémon with you as well." Tom looked at Joe, unsure what was wrong. Then he waved a hand to himself and headed for the front door. One by one each of his friends walked in, glancing back at their friend worried. Last inside was Ralph who was reluctant to leave his master's side but Tom had managed to drag him in. Finally the door slammed closed and Joe and his uncle were left alone outside in the rising sun. Joe gulped. He wasn't sure what was going to happen next.

"Uncle, I..." He began. His uncle raised a hand up to stop him. He let out an exhausted sigh.

"Joe, before I even begin to ask you any real questions I need to know whether you're being honest. I just want to know that what you're going to tell me is the truth... The honest truth." His uncle said simply. Joe was silent. "If you were lying about the dreams then I won't be angry, but if it's the truth... then I need you to tell me everything." He paused. "So tell me. Start from the beginning. What were they about?" He calmly asked of him. Joe took a deep breath.

"Well..." He stumbled. "They started when I first entered Mount Moon, after getting the first gym badge. I was standing on the hilltop on the night when I rescued Ralph. A figure walked up to me and asked me to let him go."

"A figure?" Joe's uncle asked suddenly. "What did he look like? Did you see his face? Did he give you his name?" Joe shook his head.

"No." he said simply. "When I asked he just said I would find out soon. He was wearing a brown suit and hat and his face was covered in shadow. I didn't recognise him at all." His uncle glanced away, whispering something under his breath.

"Think, Joe. What else did you dream?" He continued to ask, pushing for more information out of him.

"The next dream after that was more like a memory." Joe explained. "I was looking through the eyes of myself as a baby when I first arrived at your house. I never saw who was carrying me but I recognised you." Joe explained. His mind then began to wonder. "Who was my father?" he asked. His uncle shrugged his shoulders.

"I've told you before." He said simply. "He was a Police Officer before he and your mother were killed in a car crash." Joe cut him off.

"That's not true, though, is it?" he said simply, looking his uncle in the eyes and spotting the faint hints of thought out lies. "He wasn't just a Police Officer, was he? He didn't really die in a crash, did he?" Joe questioned. His uncle coughed, trying to change the subject.

"Joe we'll talk about that later, but right now I need you to focus on these dreams you've been having. It's important."

"How can it be more important than who my parents are?" Joe asked, slightly distressed. His uncle looked him in the eyes.

"Please, Joe. I need to know. It's more important then you could possible imagine!" his uncle explained to him, hurrying the information out. Joe gulped, trying to remember.

"Alright." he sighed. "After that I had a dream about death, the night before Sting was killed." He gulped. "And then after that i saw a dream where you and another boy got your first Pokémon which then jumped to the day that yours died one year later... That's how I knew about Malin and the rockslide that killed her." Joe's uncle just continued to listen to him, noting down everything he was told inside his wise head. Joe continued to talk about what he had dreamt. "I remember seeing that same figure walking up behind you and leading you away from there. He called you by your name." He explained. Joe's uncle nodded.

"Is that all there is?" his uncle asked patiently. Joe shook his head.

"No." he gulped. "There was one more. It's probably not important." he added.

"It doesn't matter." his uncle told him. "Just tell me it anyway." Joe continued.

"Remember how I had that really bad nightmare once when I was 9." Joe reminded him. His uncle nodded, remembering it well. "Well the most recent dream I had was about that. Except I was looking from a third person perspective. I watched a Gengar appear in my room and cause my nightmare. Then I saw another Pokémon, a scared, battle-worn Crobat fight it off. As it left I saw it join the side of the same figure from before. The same one who was standing on the hill and the same one who'd talked to you in the cemetery." He leaned back on his seat, finally done with explaining. "And that's it." he explained. His uncle looked him in the eyes for several seconds before falling back against his chair. The two of them had sat down at the garden table on the front patio to talk. He rubbed his hands against his face. A tired groan escaped from his mouth.

"I had hoped this wouldn't happen again." he sighed, clearly knowing something Joe didn't. "When I heard that Team Rocket was back I hoped they would just fall apart quickly but it's all playing out like the last two times. Even down to the visions." Joe stared at his uncle.

"What do you mean?" he asked, looking worried. "What do you mean 'Like the last two times'? Do you mean this has happened before?" His uncle put his hands back down on the table.

"Joe you've been honest with me so I'm going to be honest with you." he explained. "Now I need you to listen very closely. There's a reason people are referring to these incidents as 'Team Rocket's Return'. They've been around for a long time. Some may remember when they made their first public appearance nearly 8 years ago. They were stealing people's Pokémon from them but were stopped by a young trainer called Red here in Kanto and then another called Gold in Johto. After they both defeated Team rocked here in Kanto and in Johto they became the champions and the suddenly disappeared. No one has heard from either of them since. That is the story most people know. What most of them don't know about it was that both trainers suffered from the same visions as you. They would have 5 important visions of what had happened and then what would happen... But only ever five. In your case you got one extra to warn you about your Pokémon's death. That too has happened before. These visions would give them the strength and determination to win, making them the strongest champions. Most people don't know this because they never spoke of it to all but a few."

"Then how do you know about it?" Joe asked.

"I'll come to that in a minute." his uncle continued. "There's one more part to this story that no one else knows except me. Fifteen years before that I lost my Pokémon. On that same day a figure approached me, offering to help me become a better. He took me away and trained me, giving me new Pokémon to raise. I wasn't the only person he was teaching either. My brother... Your father... Was studying under him as well. The man teaching us was a young up and coming gym leader who wanted to create a group of superiorly powerful trainers. His name was Giovanni. Even though there were just the three of us to start off with we were strong, stronger than most trainers, even the elite for, and quickly our group began to grow. But as quickly as our group has grown I began to realise what our group was really planning." He paused. "Joe, I was the first to suffer from the dreams. The first one was about my Pokémon dying. I ignored the signs and she was killed because of it. Four years after I had visions showing me what Team Rocket would become. At first I discarded them as dreams as well. Then I found one of the younger students experimenting on Pokémon genetics, trying to splice them and create new, more powerful monstrosities. I stopped him but it turned out our leader, Giovanni, had told him to do so. He wanted to make Team Rocked a force to be reckoned with, a power that one day could overthrow an entire region. I wanted nothing to do with it. I had joined Team Rocket to discover my true power, not to experiment on the creatures I loved so much. So I did the only thing I could. I burned down the base, destroying all their work and setting them back years. I took as many captured Pokémon as I could and left. One of those Pokémon was my brother's Growlithe who later became my closest companion, Arco. At the time I was fifteen and had no family to return to. Everyone thought we were dead. I had to change my name to what it is now. I became Walker Glende." He took a deep breath. "So that's it." He finished. "That's my story. It's not going to be easy for you to understand straight away but it's all true." Joe just stared, taking in all his uncle had said.

"You're Ex-Team Rocket." Joe repeated, sounding like he was stuck in a dream. "That's why their commanders knew you." He paused. "My father was in Team Rocket."

"Both your parents were. His uncle added. "And as far as I know your father still is. I never really knew your mother and I don't know where she is now." Joe just stared at him.

"Why would you lie to me about this for so long?" He asked, sounding completely stunned. "How could you hide that from me? I had a right to know."

"If I had told you before would you have believed me?" His uncle asked simply. "If I had told you would you be sitting here talking to me now?" He leaned back. "No. You wouldn't. Instead you'd be stuck in your room washing your adolescent life away, listening to heavy metal and never standing in the light. You'd have become secluded, maybe even a vagabond if you took it really bad and who knows where you'd have ended up. I had to lie to you so you'd have hope for yourself. I wanted you to grow up being happy and strong, able to take on the challenges of life. I feared that if you knew the truth to early then that may never happen."

"But uncle look at me now." Joe told him, holding his arms out to show himself. "Just hearing this has destroyed me. I don't know who I am anymore. I don't know what reason I have to be here. Why did you even tell me this?" Joe's uncle looked at him sadly.

"I was going to tell you when I thought you were ready. Maybe when you were sixteen. I had to tell you now because it would help you understand just how drastic the situation really is."

"I fail to see how anything Team Rocket is up to should have any effect on me." Joe snorted, standing up to walk away.

"Joseph!" His uncle snapped suddenly. Joe froze, glaring at him. His uncle lowered his head. "Sorry." he said, quietly. "I didn't mean to snap at you, it's just... Look, I understand you're shocked and upset by what I've told you. And I know that you don't trust me right now but please listen to me. Team Rocket needs to be stopped. You saw their leader yourself; you witnessed the power his weapons and Pokémon wield. He needs to be stopped. They all do. If they aren't then they'll succeed in their plans. You and I are the only ones who can do so. We were chosen by the legendaries themselves to do so. Who else do you think the visions are from?" Joe sat back down.

"Who said the legendaries even exist?" Joe argued. "And if they do then why would the bother stopping Team Rocket controlling the world?"

"Joe, you're not listening." his uncle said, speaking louder. "If Team Rocket get back into their full power then they'll start experimenting on Pokémon again. They'll hunt down the legendaries from their hiding places and experiment on them, steal their genes and splice them into more monstrosities. They've already done so with one of them before. Mew. Found its fossilised DNA and tried to replicate it, unwillingly creating Mewtwo. And if they have an army of Pokémon as powerful as him on their side then no one would be able to stop them. So do you see now? If we don't stop them our world is doomed." Joe sighed.

"Uncle I'm not a child anymore. You think that simply saying the world will end is a good enough reason for me alone to fight them? I'm tired of fighting them. As you said I saw their power. He was able to create a fully powered Hyper Beam with his hand. With that kind of power he doesn't need Pokémon. How am I meant to stop that alone?"

"You won't be alone!" his uncle argued. "You'll have your Pokémon, your friends by your side."

"Uncle, I'm no hero." Joe argued. "I'm no Legend of old. I'm no Red or Gold. I'm just a boy. I never wanted to be the one who had to fight for others. I don't even know what I want. That's part of the reason I've been travelling. I can't take them on. I'm just not strong enough and I never will be!" he fell silent. Both of them sat there looking down at the table for a while. Finally Joe's uncle gave in.

"Ok." he sighed. "Ok. You win. You don't have to go fight them. You just stay here till it's over. I'll head of to find out where they're hiding and try to stop them before it's too late." He stood up to leave. "Oh, by the way, you are strong enough to beat them. You just don't know it yet." He continued. "Trust yourself, Joe. You may feel weak but you're not. You are strong. Very strong. Maybe not physically but you have a steel determination. It's there in your eyes. Never doubt yourself. Legends are not born, after all." And with that he walked of and headed inside. Joe sat at the table, head in his hands, thinking deeply to himself. He felt awful for hating his uncle for lying to him but to be honest how was he supposed to react. He should have been told about his father. Maybe then he would have been more motivated to stop team rocket. A question had occurred to him. If his father was supposedly still in Team Rocket, had Joe seen him? This raised another question. If he had, who was it? His head began to feel heavy. His eyes began to droop as he felt himself falling asleep. His eyes slipped closed and his vision was shrouded by darkness. When they opened again he was back in the corridor.

"Oh no, no, no, No No No!" Joe shouted in annoyance and distress. "Not back here, please!" He kicked the wall only to find that his foot passed through it. He stepped back and surveyed the world. Again the five steel doors stood before him, this time the closest three were locked. Now only one on the right and the one at the end of the corridor were unlocked. He found himself being called towards the right side door. He shrugged, exhaustedly. "Well now that I'm here I may as well go through anyway." he announced as he pushed the heavy cold metal open. On the other side he could see the path way leading down from Pallet to Viridian. He himself was standing next to a small pond. A girl was sitting there, a Staryu bobbing around in the water. The girl was wearing a yellow short sleeve shirt and green summer shorts. Her long ginger hair rested behind her head, falling down her like a cascade of fire. "Winter?" Joe asked confused. Then he suddenly realised what he was watching. Instinctively he turned his gaze to the top of the hill. He saw two figures just appearing over the horizon. One was human and wearing blue jeans, a light grey jumper and black T-shirt as well as an open red hat on his short, brown hair. The other was a human sized four winged purple bat with piercing yellow eyes and sparkly white fang teeth. Joe looked at the two of them, surprised to see how different he had looked when he left on his journey. It had felt so long ago now. "Is that what my hear looks like?" Joe asked no one in particular. He then proceeded to lick a finger and sort out his own hair. As he watched he saw himself step forwards, trip and tumble down the path, picking up Ralph as he did so and rolling along with him. Joe knew where this was going next. He turned to Winter and wanted to shout 'Look out!' but he knew she wouldn't hear him. Unable to do anything he watch as his younger self rolled down the hill and into the then unknown young girl. He watched them role to the bottom of the hill and hit the stone wall outside Viridian city. He followed after them, even though he knew what was going to happen. He saw Winter stand up angrily and start shouting at him.

"Watch where you're going!" he heard her snap at him. Her voice sounded faint to him. Maybe it was something to do with the vision itself. The conversation continued on the way he remembered it. As he watch Joe found himself smiling. The memory of their meeting was making him happy. It made him laugh to see how dumb he had been. I mean not knowing which building was the Pokémon Centre. He laughed. As he watched the Staryu came rolling down and crashed into Ralph. Joe laughed, almost uncontrollably. His younger self didn't seem to be doing the same. He was standing angrily shouting at who would become his first true friend.

"This was great." he laughed. "Looking back that was such a funny introduction." He stopped laughing. "Why am I watching this, though?" he wondered. "Why is this important?" The world began to fade to whit suddenly. When it returned he was standing in the middle of a gym, specifically Pewter gym. He looked around to see Rocky standing to his left and himself to his right. "This must be when I battled Rocky." he deduced. "By the look of it this was the second attempt." Crash, Rocky's onyx came sliding by, trying to attack Ralph but he simply swooped aside and Crash hit a large rock head first. Younger Joe readied his hand and flung it out, shouting...

"Steel Wing!" Joe heard. "Aim for the head!" He saw Ralph strike Crash in the face with a solid metal wing and Crash recoiled. Joe found himself chuckling. That move had saved his neck on multiple occasions. This was the first of them. As he watch he saw Ralph constantly dive in to attack, wings first. He saw Crash throwing stones at him but his never hit him. Ralph was too fast. Finally Crash was able to grab him but Ralph broke free, using his sharp teeth. Finally he finished it off with a steel wing and Crash collapsed with a heavy thud that managed to make Joe's ethereal form shake and loose balance. Rocky sighed and held up his arms.

"You won." he sighed. "Congratulations"

"That really was a great battle." Joe remembered. "The first of many." He stopped. But I still don't understand why I'm being shown this. Suddenly the world faded again into whiteness. When it came back he was standing in a place he didn't recognise. A cave. On the wall before him were many different carvings and drawing, etched into the stone and left to fix over time. Each depicted different events and people, some even showed Pokémon. Most were of a great battle that seemed to take place millennia ago, before poke-balls and Pokémon Centres. Others were of great cities in the skies, underground and on the sea bed. Some were of heroes, others of villains, others of teachers, others of pets and family. One drawing stood out the most however. It sat at the centre of the wall, covered in stone dust. It appeared to be the oldest drawing. It was of an ancient Pokémon which had a long thin tail ending with a fat bulge and a small chubby body with rabbitesk legs and small hands. Its head was similar to a cats but is had no fur and its skin was bright pink. The most obvious part of its body was its eyes which took up at least one third of its head. The drawing was old so any detail it had had was no longer there but it was clearly a Pokémon. Joe looked at it all and took it in. "Where am I?" was the thirst thing he thought. The second thing was "What Pokémon is that and why am I here looking at a wall painting of it?" he reached out to touch the stone. Suddenly he felt a presence behind him. He turned around and jumped in surprise. "I thought I was alone here." he whispered to himself. Floating about six feet above the air behind him was a small pink, long tailed Cat/Mouse looking Pokémon, the same one from the carvings. It looked straight at him.

"I see you." A child's voice laughed inside his own head in a jolly, upbeat tone. Joe looked around.

"Who's there!" he asked, spinning around wildly.

"It's me!" the voice laughed again. "I'm standing right in front of you. Over here." the pink floating Pokémon waived a small hand at him. Joe stared at it.

"That's you talking?" Joe asked, sounding very surprised. "In my head?" The Pokémon nodded and did a small summersault.

"Yeah, that was me. Sorry for surprising you." It apologised. "I needed to speak with you. You were beginning to doubt yourself and your friends so I'm here to give you... Encouragement." it laughed, sweetly.

"Have you been giving me these visions?" Joe asked. The Pokémon nodded.

"I am Mew." it told him, giggling madly. "I was only trying to help." it apologised. "The visions have helped others before you so I thought they would help you too."

"Well it hasn't really." Joe told it. He turned back around to the carvings. "Thanks to them my uncle seems to think I'm some kind of chosen one"

"You are, Joe." Mew explained. "Your uncle was chosen once long ago. Now you are chosen. Is it so tough to believe?" It asked. Joe shrugged.

"I don't know?" Joe told it, honestly. "I don't see how I could stop what's happening."

"That is why I'm speaking to you now." Mew explained. "You can do it. You're not alone. You have your friends. They will always stand beside you, no matter what."

"But what could any of us do?" Joe argued, all hint of hope washed away. "What could any of us do that could stop them? They have a weapon that can recreate any Pokémon move."

"Weapons are just tools." Mew explained. "It's the mind of the one wielding them that matters. You can beat Team Rocket. You just need to believe that you can beat them. Once you do that you will find the strength to do so. Just believe, not only in yourself but also in your friends." Joe just sighed and leaned his head against the wall. Mew looked sadly at his back. "Think about how many you've helped on your journey." Mew said suddenly. "How many people did you save from Team Rocket? How many friends have you made? Count them up now. You'll surprise yourself." Joe looked up suddenly. Mew smiled. "You have helped so many on your short journey." He continued. He then glanced around the room. "And if you need to see it for yourself then just looks here." Joe turned back around. What he saw changed his mindset completely. All around him stood the faded images of his friends, his family and everyone good he had met on his journey. Tom, Rocky, Gordon, Malcolm, Cheyenne, Jade, Both Mr. Fuji's, Mina, Marowak, Ruby, Ross, Frank, Misty, Lt. Surge, Erika, Janine, His Uncle, Sting, Pitt, Cinders, Nami, Pippy, Winter... And finally Ralph. All of them were standing there, visible before his eyes. He walked forwards and looked between each. Something awoke inside his mind. He began to realise something that he had never known before then. Mew chuckled. "There." it smiled. "Now you realise. Now you can see for yourself what you have achieved. You've helped so many people in so many ways. You've learned so much and felt so much. You have friends, hero. Friends who will stand by your side to the bitter end. You are ready to take on Team Rocket. It doesn't matter if your father and uncle were once a part of it. You just needed to believe in yourself. Now you do." Joe reached out to touch Ralph's head only to find his hand going though the image before him. Mew laughed. "He will stand by you." it explained. "They will all stand by you. Just believe you can do it! Believe! Believe!" Mew chanted. The cave shook with the echoed chants. Joe looked back up at it and smiled. He had finally realised his true potential.

"I believe!" He shouted, a wide grin playing upon his face. Mew nodded, happily somersaulting and started flying left and right.

"Fantastic!" it shouted, overjoyed. It stopped before his face. "Now all you need to do is wake up!"

"Wake up." Joe awoke with a jolt. He was still sitting at the garden table on the front patio outside of his house. Someone had been pulling on his hair. He looked up and saw the large yellow sharp eyes of Ralph, his Crobat friend. He was sitting on the table, propping himself up with his wings and staring in Joe's face. A concerned smile was sitting on his face. Joe smiled back. Then he realised that his Uncle was standing next to him.

"I'm going to find someone." He explained. "Someone specific. He may be the only one who the Rocket's may listen to. So I'm going to be away for a couple of days." He lowered down to Joe's level and put his hands on his shoulders. "Listen, I know you're unsure about all this but I need you to confront Team Rocket again. Try and find out what their plan is and if you can, stop them. Hopefully the help I'll be getting will be enough to stop them."

"You don't need to worry about me anymore." Joe told him, pushing his hands off. "I know what I need to do and I'm prepared to do so." His uncle stood up tall again, a smile on his face.

"Really?" He asked, surprised. "You changed your mind quick. Are you sure you can confront them on your own?"

"I can take them on any day of the week." Joe told him. "Someone needs to stop them, after all. And besides I won't be alone. My friends will be with me. Ralph will be with me."


	26. Chapter 26: A Game of Minds

Again the trio set of into the sky, Just 20 minutes past Joe changing his mind. They had packed up, kitted up and gotten ready for the trials that certainly lay ahead of them. They had said their thanks and goodbyes to Malcolm and Cheyenne for turning up to help in the fight. They didn't stay for too long as they needed to get back to Cerulean to make sure their home was safe. Before they had left they had wished them luck and given them a couple of items that may be helpful in the future. A pack of lemonade cans and a couple of plant herb. Apparently they were very effective for reviving Pokémon but they didn't taste very nice. Gordon couldn't stay to help, either. He had to get back to Pewter city to take care of the gym. Before he left he too had something for them. He gave them a small brown sewed bag full of multiple kinds of berries. From what Joe could see they mainly consisted of Sitrus and Lum berries. Finally Joe's uncle said his goodbyes.

"Good luck." he told them, patting his Nephew's shoulder. "Are you all packed?" He asked Joe specifically.

"Yeas, uncle." Joe laughed. "Don't worry. We'll be fine." His uncle smiled. He reached into his pocket.

"Almost forgot. Before you go I have something that should come in very useful." He pulled out his arm and in his hand he held a strange, arm brace like, blue device with leather straps that was about the half the length of his arm. Joe took it and looked it over. "It's a very unique tool. I created it myself during my time in Team Rocket." His uncle explained. Before He could continue Joe pushed in a small square button on the side and the device suddenly snapped open. Joe jumped back as a large, metal, shield expanded suddenly out from the device's sides and sat solidly at its centre. It was the same shield as before, the one his uncle had been carrying when he stopped Archer from killing him. Looking down at it now he could see more detail on it. Originally he had assumed the shield was square but it was in fact a diamond, the edges poking out bellow, above, away and towards his arm. It seemed like it would be rather painful to put it on while it was open. On the centre of the shield was a symbol, shaped like a crossed sword slashing through the centre. "My old shield." His uncle continued. "It's saved my life many times. It will protect you from not just bullets but also Pokémon attacks. It simulates the move Protect. Its solar powered but be careful as the power runs out quick. Just push the button on the side to open and close it." Joe clicked the button again and quickly the shield folded away back into the thin, blue metal device. He strapped it onto his right wrist and smiled at his uncle.

"Thank you." he smiled.

"Just remember to be careful." his uncle reminded him. "Your team will help you out. Trust in them and you can win."

The trio took off into the sky above, leaving Pallet town behind them. Rocky and Winter had kept the flying types Tom had lent them so they could travel faster. Tom had let them keep them for their journey and Rocky was only too delighted to have an Aerodactyl on his side. Winter however seemed a little less impressed about her Pidgeotto, but she was persistent on teaching it one water move. Joe decided that he should take on the remaining gym leaders first before he went to meet Team Rocket for the last time. First he stopped by the gym at Viridian. The gym leader of that town was supposed to be the toughest of all of them, leaving him as the eighth gym leader. Joe felt that if he took him on first he would give his Pokémon a lot more experience. However when they got there the doors were locked shut and a sign was hanging on the window. It read 'Leader travelling. Come back in Four days.'

"He's out." Joe muttered, holding the sign by his thumb and forefinger. "By the time he gets back I imagine it'll be over." he sighed. Looks like we'll have to move onto the next one." he told his friends. They took off again, this time heading east towards Saffron City and the sixth gym leader. Originally they had had to go under or around the city in the underground tunnels as the city was under lockdown from police who were trying deal with the high rate of criminals hiding in its underworld. Now that that mission had been a moderate success they were starting to let visitors and passers bye in again. This meant Joe and his friends could safely land in the city without being stopped or even shot down by the police. As the trio flew over the city walls they began to descend, making their way to the ground and landing comfortably on the solid concrete path. Joe jumped of Ralph's back, unhooked the flying gear and slid it off, leaving Ralph free to move properly without harnesses swinging around under him. They had landed next the city's Pokémon centre, on the right side of the city, close to the centre. They took down note of its location so they could find it again when they needed to. Only a few streets away from their was the Gym. This one was going to be a real challenge, Joe could feel it his bones. He was prepared for it.

"If you want to go take the gym..." Winter told him, causing his attention to fix onto her. Me and Rocky will go and train up our own Pokémon. We need to make sure our flying type can fight of any grunts in our way." She explained. Rocky nodded in agreement.

"Yeah. We'll go train our Pokémon around the city. I believe there are a couple of criminal dens we could deal with to pass the time. Shouldn't be too tough. Chopper can take care of them easily." he laughed, rubbing his Machop's bold head. Chopper folded his arms and grinned. Joe shrugged.

"Alright." he said. "That's fine. Just be careful. Some of these groups are pretty vile." he warned. "Rocky laughed.

"Ha, not a problem." He laughed. Within seconds he had gone, taking his Pokémon down the street and around the corner. Winter sighed.

"I'd better get after him." She explained to Joe. "Make sure he doesn't destroy anything. Make sure to go easy when fighting the gym leader. I hear she's tough... Very tough." Joe just looked at her.

"Thanks, Winter." He said, almost sarcastically. She shrugged.

"I'm just concerned." she told him. "After you and your uncle talked you seemed much stressed out. I just wanted to know you were ok."

"I'm fine." Joe told her. "I can take the gym leader fine, don't worry." Winter smiled at him.

"Well, if your sure." She turned to go. "I'll come back in an hour or two. I imagine you'll be done by then." And with that she followed after Rocky, beginning to release her Pokémon to fight. Joe looked at Ralph. His friend seemed a little rattled, maybe by his previous fight or maybe by the heavy amount of pressure now placed upon their shoulders. Maybe he was still worried for his friend. Joe smiled at him and stroked his ear.

"Are you ready to take on another gym?" Joe asked. Ralph nodded, suddenly eager, a small purring noise escaping from his mouth. Joe chuckled. "Alright then. Let's go do this."

Again the two of them found themselves stepping through the large sliding glass doors to the gym. Calmly they stepped inside. The room within seemed similar to the previous gyms except the walls where a lighter shade of yellow. The pitch was by far the blandest looking of all of them. In fact it was no different to a normal battle pitch. On the other side of the room stood a young woman, sitting upon a golden metal throne with her arms crossed. She gad extremely long yet elegant black hair and she was wearing a skin-tight red bodysuit with black boots and gloves. She had a simple malice expression upon her face of intellectual wrath. As Joe and Ralph walked in she did not stand up, she didn't even blink. She simply sat there, arms resting on the chairs arm rests. She sat up, looking straight at the two of them.

"So" she boomed. "A Challenger Approaches." She waived a hand. "Welcome to my gym. Please step forwards. I am Sabrina, the gym leader here. How may I serve you?" She seemed to be mocking him slightly. Joe decided to play along.

"Well I find I'm quite nice on a silver platter with a side order of fries and garlic sauce." He joked. "I am Joe, your challenger." He laughed, bowing. "I have come here to take on your gym challenge in order to become stronger." Sabrina gave a small smile.

"Yes, I know why your here." She explained. "I foresaw your arrival." at first Joe seemed surprised by her comment but then he remembered who she was.

"Oh, of course, your psychic, I forget." He realised. "So you know I'm meant to fight Team Rocket soon." He asked. She nodded.

"Yes. I saw that, too." She explained. "Though it may surprise you to know that back when Team Rocket started I used to be one of their elites." She told him, unemotionally. Now Joe really was surprised.

"Wait, you, a gym leader, used to be in Team Rocket?" Joe repeated aloud. Sabrina smiled.

"Don't panic" She gave a small chuckling smile. "I do not sympathise for them. I have nothing to do with them anymore. These new rockets are only half the men I worked with. Though by what you are telling me, their new leader has a power greater than any they have ever owned before." Again Joe was surprised.

"I didn't say..." he started. Then he remembered. 'Psychic. Can read minds' he reminded himself.

'Well technically I can hear minds' a voice explained in his head. Immediately he looked over at Sabrina who was chuckling. "Very well, Joe Glende of Pallet Town." She announced, standing up. "And Ralph the Crobat." She added. "I accept your challenge. But I add a clause to our duel. You must beat me at my full power." There was a short silence. "You came here seeking to raise your Pokémon's power, skill and experience, and you shall do so. But in order to do that you must first beat me at my toughest. No exceptions." Joe thought the offer over for a few seconds. "Your answer is yes, by the way." Sabrina told him. Joe and Ralph both smiled.

"All right." Joe agreed. "I accept. Me and you. 4 Vs 4. Here. Till each Pokémon can no longer fight." Sabrina smiled and cracked her knuckles.

"Very well." she announced. "Let our battle commence."

Joe and Erika stood opposite each other across a plastic ocean that was the gym arena. Joe had already planned out whom to use first. Erika however seemed to be able to tell what his choice would be. She readied a poke-ball and released it.

"Go Slowbro." she called as the ball opened and released a tall pink, sloth looking Pokémon with a dopy face and fat belly standing where the ball had landed. Apart from small, fat arms and legs, tiny eyes, a large mouth and curly ears there was nothing else that seemed to make it unique... Except for the huge shell like creature hanging of its tail. According to the pokedex the creature on its tail was a Shellder but Joe wasn't too certain about that. As far as he was aware Shellder didn't have a long, horn shaped shell. He suddenly realised that Sabrina was laughing. He kept forgetting she could read his mind. Now it was Joe's turn to send out a Pokémon.

"Go Pitt." he called as he sent of a red poke-ball and Pitt, the powerful Venusaur emerged, lashing vine whips to intimidate. And battle immediately began. At first it seemed no one was doing anything. Joe waited for Sabrina's attack but it did not come. Finally he decided to make the first move. "Ok, Pitt, use Razor Leaf!" He instructed. Pitt's plant shook and a flurry of crescent shaped leaves flew forth, slicing though the air. Slowbro however just stood where it was, watching stupidly as the leaves shot forwards. Suddenly It jumped upwards, standing on the tip of its shell swallowed tail and disappeared inside its large toothed maw. The razor leaf bounced harmlessly of the shells sides, leaving Slowbro completely unharmed. Pitt seemed annoyed that his attack hadn't worked. Slowbro popped back out of its shell and began to gather water. Pitt Gathered light in his plant head. The two Pokémon leaned forwards and fired two separate beams. One made of rapid torrent water, the other of bright green photosynthetic light. The two attacks met at the centre and combated for power. Slowly Pitts attack seemed to be pushing Slowbro back, getting closer to hitting its target. Suddenly Slowbro gasped for breath, letting its attack and allowing itself to be hit by Pitt's Solarbeam. It was flung backwards by the astounding force and landed painfully on its side. Slowly it pushed itself up, anger on its face. Pitt didn't seem to care. He readied another Solarbeam when suddenly a small flash came from Slowbro's right eye and Pitt found himself unable to perform the attack. No matter how hard he tried he could not fire a Solarbeam. The light at the tip died away as his attack failed. "What's the problem?" Joe asked. Pitt looked back at him, unsure.

"Disable." Sabrina Explained. Joe glanced up at her from the other side of the room. "Disable stops a Pokémon using the last move it made. In this case your Pitt's Solarbeam. Sorry for the inconvenience." she seemed to be mocking it slightly. Joe rethought his plan.

"Alright." he muttered, thinking up what to do. "Can't use Solarbeam, so..." he stopped, looking back up at the battle field. "Pitt, use Leech Seed." he called. Pitt fired a small cluster of fat, sticky seeds in Slowbro's direction. The seeds scattered and landed all over Slowbro's body, taking root and digging into its skin. Slowbro tried pulling them off but they were buried in fast. Small buds began to push their way through the shell. It gave Pitt an angry look and readied an attack. It fired a circular waiving field of pink energy in Pitts direction and it passed straight through him, causing him tense up and flinch. Its Psychic was very powerful. Pitt flinched painfully. He found his legs knocking and he was struggling to hold himself up. His head ached and his eyes felt heavy.

"Pitt, hold on." Joe encouraged. "You can still do this. Use tackle!" Pitt nodded, glancing back at his trainer and began to slowly run forwards, moving about as fast as a lorry down a village lane. He rushed forwards, aiming to ram into Slowbro with its full body. Slowbro tensed for the attack and took it full force in the chest. It fell backwards, landing on its side and falling several feet back. It pushed itself back up and lowered its head. It suddenly dashed forwards, head lowered to ram. It struck Pitt in the head and he was pushed backwards by the force Slowbro had created. Slowbro went in to Headbutt him again but Pitt met it in the middle, using his own head to push it back. The two pushed against each, trying to push the other back. Slowly but steadily Slowbro was being pushed backwards. Finally Pitt overwhelmed it, slapping it away with a vine and causing it to jump back out of the way.

"Hydro Pump!" Sabrina instructed. Slowbro gathered water inside its mouth and readied to fire it out in a torrent.

"Quick, protect!" Joe instructed. Pitt nodded and lowered its back. Slowbro released, firing a large torrent of heavy rapid water at Pitts face. At the last second he created the colourless light field around himself, blocking the attack and causing the water to bounce completely of it and drip up down and over the field. As the protect faded away the water droplets fell to the ground and made a tiny splash on the plastic floor. Pitt roared menacingly, straightening his back and stretching his neck out, cracking his neck. He glared down at Slowbro, taunting it to try attacking again. Slowbro backed up slightly. Pitt suddenly leaned back on its hind legs, standing up straight and leaving his fat belly exposed. Then he dropped back onto the ground. When his heavy front legs hit the floor it cracked and shook under his weight, sending shockwaves out through the plastic flooring and causing the entire building to move about. The earthquake he made hit Slowbro about, causing it to wobble and slip up, landing on its back, painfully. Sabrina found herself struggling to stand up as the shockwave reached her. Even Joe was being knocked about by the earthquake Pitt had made. The only one there who didn't seem affected by the attack was Ralph. He was lucky that he was flying above the ground and therefore the ground shaking couldn't hurt him. In fact he found it quite funny watching the others shake about like they did. Sabrina leaned against her throne to steady herself. When the earthquake died away Slowbro could be seen lying in pain on the floor, still conscious but only just. Joe found himself laughing.

"Damn, Pitt. Nice going." He smiled at the large plant carrying lizard. Pitt smiled back, glad for the appraisal from his trainer. Sabrina seemed less happy. A frown of anger had subtle faded onto her face. She raised a hand out, still steadying herself with the other hand on her chair.

"Slowbro get up!" She snapped. Slowbro's lazy ears twitched at her command. **Get up!** She screamed in her mind. Slowbro suddenly shot up onto its feet again in a blur of pink motion. **Good.** She told it psychically, calming down again. "Now use Amnesia!" She commanded verbally now. "Slowbro nodded slightly and held its hands to its forehead, seemingly desperate to remember something… or forget something. A few seconds later its arms fell back to its side and it stood looking dumbly forwards at Pitt. "Now continue with Psychic!" Sabrina instructed again. Slowbro closed its eyes and opened its mind, sending the wave of pink psychic energy directly at Pitt.

"Pitt, try your Solarbeam again." Joe instructed. Pitt looked unsure but tried anyway. Still nothing was happening. He just couldn't get the light to gather in his flower. "Alright." Joe thought again. He'd have to act quickly if he wanted Pitt to survive the attack. "Try Razor Leaf!" He told him. Pitt did so, firing seven crescent spinning leaves at Slowbro. The leaves passed straight through Psychic, doing nothing to it. A couple of the leaves even dissolved in the psychic energy. The few that made it through continued onwards and landed their hits on Slowbro's stomach. It flinched as it took damage but it seemed to resist it better than the previous time. The Psychic still hit Pitt and he took it full force. He was left standing hurt and slightly stunned and confused, again only just standing up on his four legs. Slowbro had the upper hand now. It was about to fire a Hydro pump again when suddenly its body began to spasm up. The seeds sticking to its hide beginning to sprout and suck the energy from its body, sending it back to Pitt. As Slowbro lost health Pitt regained it. He felt his strength beginning to come back to him again. He stood up properly, supported by his powerful front and hind legs. He lowered his head and charged, heading straight for Slowbro. While Slowbro was distracted trying to get the seeds off of it Pitt rushed in and tackled it to the ground, crushing it under his giant mass. When he stepped back Slowbro lay flattened of the floor, an unconscious pile. A cheer came from Joe's side of the field. Again Pitt had prevailed for him and his team. Sabrina glared at him, withdrawing her Pokémon and readying the next pokéball. **Damn boy crushed Slowbro like that. If he keeps his venusaur out, he may win easily.** She thought. _Slowbro was a dumb fool._ A voice whispered back in her head. It had the sinister whisper of a creeper, a figure who'd lure children into dark alleys with the promise of sweets. _Let me fight. I'll make him fear. I'll thrash all his Pokémon_. Sabrina sighed in agreement, pulling out a great ball from her belt and readying it.

"Go, Alakazam!" She called. She threw the ball and released a tall, yellow, psychic Pokémon holding two metal spoons in both of its lanky long hands. It looked like the final evolution of abra; a Pokémon Joe had met before. It certainly had the same yellow skin and brown torso abra had, even if it had longer limbs and stood taller on its feet. As well as this it had a long bushy yellow moustache spreading out from under its nose and a long, gaunt face and slit shaped eyes, giving it the look of a stereotypical Japanese scientist. It stood still, eyes closed for a few seconds before snapping them open and stretching its arms out.

"ALAKAZAM!" It roared. The entire room fell silent at its call. Joe stopped cheering. Ralph stopped flapping. Pitt stopped breathing. Everyone's eyes were fixed on Alakazam. It glared at Pitt and the spoons in its hands bent back, causing him to shiver.

"Alakazam!" Sabrina called, feeling a lot more confident. "Use Calm mind!" Alakazam raised its spoons to its head and cleared its mind, small waves of psychic energy flashing out around it as they emptied its head, leaving it space to make new, more powerful psychic moves. "Now use Future Sight!" Sabrina continued. A small flash came from in front of Alakazam, then nothing more.

"Is that it?" Joe asked, feeling a little too cocky for his own good. "Alright then. Pitt, use Razor Leaf!" he began to command. Again Pitt fired the razor sharp leaves out from its flower, aimed at Alakazam. Alakazam however didn't even blink. It just watched as the attack came flying towards it. Suddenly it raised its hands and the leaves disintegrated one by one till there was nothing but tiny particles of plant mater flying towards it. It then proceeded to flex its arms again, trying to intimidate it. Pitt back up, seeing now just how strong his opponent was going to be. "It's ok." Joe tried to comfort him. "It's just showing off. You can beat it. I trust in you." Pitt smiled, thankfully at his trainer. He then proceeded to plod along, heading towards Alakazam so his attacks would reach it quicker. He felt disable wearing away now and light had begun to gather again inside his plant stem. He leaned forwards and readied to fire. When he did so he felt the relief of release as the beam shot from his mouth and heading dead towards Alakazam's chest… But it didn't go the way he had planned. When the light died away Alakazam was still standing where it had been, unhurt by the attack whatsoever. In front of it was the recognisable colourless shield for protect, blocking any attack from hitting it. Pitt snarled. That was dirty trick only he was allowed to use. He bellowed and charged in, going in to tackle Alakazam down like he had done to Slowbro. As he was reaching his opponent he suddenly found himself not moving forwards. Instead he was moving upwards. He looked down to find himself being lifted up from the floor somehow and floating several feet above the ground. Alakazam had its flat hand raised up to his level. Somehow it was able to psychically lift his weight up into the air. Then Alakazam dropped its hand down and Pitt fell out of the air. He landed with a heavy thud on his stomach against the hard, plastic floor. He tried to get back up onto his feet but the impact had winded him completely. He groaned, slumped to the floor and fell asleep. Joe sighed and punched his arm in annoyance. He didn't blame Pitt for being knocked out so easily. If anything he blamed himself for getting cocky and misjudging Alakazam's power.

"One down each, trainer." Sabrina called out to him. She raised her hands up and flat. "Now who has the advantage?" Joe didn't respond. Quickly he withdrew Pitt, thanking him for his work and readying his next Pokémon.

"Ok, Nami. You're up." He threw the pokéball and out popped the sleek blue vaporeon. Nami giggled, happy for a chance to fight again. Alakazam rolled its eyes. _Oh boy._ It thought. _Another giggly water type. Why must I always fight them?_ It readied its arms out to attack. **Not this time, old friend.** Sabrina told it, using her psychic link to talk to her Pokémon privately. **I need you for later on. Come back for now.** Alakazam sighed. _Alright._ It agreed, both slightly glad and slightly annoyed. With one swift movement Sabrina withdrew her strongest Pokémon and put its pokéball back onto her belt. Joe seemed confused by her choice in action.

"Why did you withdraw Alakazam?" He asked. Sabrina waved a finger, defiantly.

"I've decided I'm saving him for later" She said, simply. "At least now you can see the rest of my team quicker." She added, readying her next pokéball. This one was the normal red colour. She hurled it up into the air and cried. "Go Mr. Mime!" As the ball snapped open a strange, white and red Pokémon with long lanky arms and legs with five fingered hands and curled shoes. The tips of its fingers were flat and red. It had red cheeks and red spots on specific parts of its torso, mainly its shoulders, thighs and central chest. Its face was pink and kindly with two long blue –for lack of a better word- spikes on the side of its head, probably acting as ears. It stood dead still, holding its hands up before it, supposedly miming a wall being in front of it. In fact it was acting like a wall was in front of it, trying to pear around it and edging along slightly only to find more wall further down. Nami took one look at it and began to giggle again. She thought its miming was quite comical. Mr. Mime didn't seem too happy about that. "Mr. Mime, use barrier!" Sabrina instructed. Mr. Mine didn't even need to begin making the move. It simply kept pretending a wall was in front of it. Quickly a translucent pink wall of energy formed in front of it, protecting it from taking too much damage.

"Ok, Nami. Prepare to use your attacks when I tell you." Joe instructed. Earlier he had spent a little time teach her a couple of new moves. He hoped these moves would improve Nami's chances of winning her battles. He waited for an opportunity to make a critical hit before instructing Nami. Sabrina seemed aware of his tactic however as she neither made a move after. This left them both at a stalemate. One of them was going to have to make a move soon otherwise the battle would never happen. Finally Sabrina decided to act.

"Double Slap!" She commanded. Mr. Mime ran up oddly moving on its two long legs and headed, arms raised out towards Nami.

"Now, use Ice beam!" Joe instructed. Nami readied cold air inside her mouth and released a long, thin, sharp beam of pure ice at Mr. Mime's right leg, freezing its foot solid. It struggled to break free, eventually reverting to simply hitting the ice of. "Again, this time the other leg!" Joe continued. Nami did so; freezing up Mr. Mime's left leg now and leaving it rooted to the ground, unable to move itself forwards.

"Use Magical Leaf!" Sabrina shouted, getting excited by the battle. Mr. Mime reached its hands into a pair of invisible pockets and threw a cluster of purple glowing leaves which hovered above its head, sharp edges pointed towards name. It then flung its hand out and the leaves shot forwards, aimed at Nami's body.

"Look out!" Joe exclaimed in surprise, unaware her Pokémon would know a grass type move. Nami rolled aside in an attempt to avoid the attack only to find the leaves followed her. She tried freezing the leaves out of the air with her Ice Beam but to no avail. They just kept coming at her. "Acid Armour!" Joe called, desperately. He knew what was happening. If Nami couldn't dodge the move then she could stand up to it. Immediately her body began to create a light purple liquid from the pours of her wet skin. As it spread over her body it dried up and solidified, leaving her skin tougher to bruise or hurt. Just as the acid began to crack and break of the Magical Leaf hit her square in the side. She winced and fell back slightly but she was still standing. The attack had done only half of what it would have done otherwise. Sabrina smiled and gave a small clap.

"Quick thinking." She complemented. Joe gave a small, fake bow. Sabrina snorted. "Though it may not be enough to save you." She turned back to her Pokémon. "Mr. Mime, use Substitute!" Mr. Mime began to flex its hands and suddenly a life size toy replica of itself had appeared in front of it. Nami looked at it, confused as to what to do about it.

"Don't worry, Nami." Joe comforted her. "Just use Surf and wash it away." Nami did so, creating a rising wave of water out of nowhere and sending it crashing over the entire battlefield. The wave battered the substitute about, causing it to dissolve back into nothing, leaving the real Mr. Mime who had been hiding right behind it open and vulnerable. Immediately after noticing he was visible again he comically covered up his lower body, miming how a human would react if the shower curtain had just been pulled open. Nami glared directly at him, readying her next attack to strike it straight in the chest. Quickly Mr. Mime released a psychic to protect itself. Nami stopped her attack and rolled aside, narrowly avoiding being struck by the psychic energy. She got back up and dashed in, a blur of blue and white. She combined Quick attack and Tail Whip together, first dashing past Mr. Mime in a second and tapping it over and over with her finned tail. She then rushed forwards and ran straight into his back, knocking him forward onto his flat face. As Mr. Mime tried to get back up Nami jumped up and landed on its back, keeping it down. The two of them struggled against each other as Mr. Mime tried to push Nami off it and roll onto its front while Nami kicked and bit at it.

"Psychic again!" Sabrina instructed. Mr. Mime finally managed to push Nami of and as it did so it released a blast of psychic energy right into her face. Nami stumbled back, dazed and blinded by the attack it had just taken head on. "Now use Magical Leaf while it's hurt!" Sabrina continued, clenching her fists in excitement. The miming Pokémon threw another load of lock-on leaves into the air that immediately headed straight for Nami, hitting her in the side and sending her tumbling over. She shook her head wildly, trying to snap herself out of her daze and get back into the fight. She stood back up and readied a hydro pump. As she did so however she saw Mr. Mime's eyes glisten for a split second. She saw it then take in a huge gulp, its cheeks inflating out as they filled with water. Somehow it was copying Nami's moves.

"Mimic." Joe muttered to himself. "Smart." He turned back to his Pokémon. "Nami, you need to hit it before it can hit you. If you push its attack back you may be able to hit it." Nami didn't find this advice too helpful. How was she meant to push its attack back? She released the hydro pump. A split second after she did Mr. Mime did the same, sending its torrent of water sailing out in a huge beam, aiming to collide with Nami. The two pumps met centre on and caused water to spray out all around as the two currents collided and split over, around and under each other. This left a huge soaking wall of water in between the two attacks. It rose up like a great wave and instantly shattered, flooding the entire battle field. In seconds Mr. Mime was swept up in the torrent, being washed away from the battle field and left to dry out on the side. Nami however didn't even flinch as the water struck her, rolled over her and passed her by without doing any damage whatsoever. Sabrina cursed and Joe stared. "Maybe not so smart after all." He added. Nami nodded, self-congratulating herself and turning back to walk top her trainers side. Sabrina withdrew her Pokémon. Two down already. It wasn't looking too good for her. _Please let me take care of them. _Alakazam begged inside her head. _I'll finish them in seconds._** No.** Sabrina snapped back at it. **I still have another Pokémon to use.** _You mean Kadabra._ **Yes I mean Kadabra. **She readied her next pokéball and released her young, female Kadabra onto the battle field. Kadabra stopped her feet in an attempt to seem intimidating. Nami readied again to continue the fight.

"Kadabra, ok." Joe thought to himself. "Nami, we're going to have to be carefully about this one. Start off with Quick Attack and follow up with Ice Beam" Nami nodded and readied to attack. She shot forwards in a blur of motion. Just as she was about to hit Kadabra disappeared into this air. Nami only just landed her hit, striking through its chest and causing it to flinch slightly as it vanished and reappeared behind her. Quickly Nami spun around, readying an Ice Beam and firing it at Kadabra's legs, freezing them to the ground. Unfortunately Kadabra had already fired an attack, sending a pink beam of psychic energy spinning towards Nami. It struck her in the face and caused a little damage. Nami shook it off and got ready to attack again. Suddenly her vision split and began to wobble, drunkenly. She stumbled about on her four pawed feet, trying to get her balance.

"Alright. You confused her. Nice going, Kadabra." Sabrina congratulated her Pokémon. Kadabra grunted and readied another attack, this time readying a punch and aiming it at the ice trapping its legs. It readied the attack and released, causing the ice to shatter into thousands of melting pieces. The air around the punch turned dark brow, the colour widely associated with fighting types. Kadabra pulled back its arm and raised the other arm into the air. The spoon in its grip began to flex and bend, causing the metal to creek yet the spoon did not snap, in fact it hardly looked damaged by the action. Nami shook her head, trying to regain concentration but the world was still moving and she was only just able to stand up. "Focus Punch now!" Sabrina roared. Kadabra rushed in, half running, half levitating as it pulled back its fist which had begun to glow the same dark brown.

"Nami, look out! Use Ice Beam. Freeze it!" Joe called desperately. His voice crackled, vibrated and distorted in Nami's ears. She just about understood what he was saying and she fired a blind ice beam out of her mouth. The attack completely missed Kadabra who was now only feet away from her and instead hit Ralph in the wing, causing it to solidify and him to drop out of the air. As Joe tried to break the ice of he took his attention away from the battle. At the last second Nami realised what was going on around her but by then it was already too late. Kadabra had released its attack, striking her in the side of the face and causing her skin to ripple and quake away from the impact. Her body quickly followed suit, her head recoiling away and her legs giving way, causing her to go sailing backwards. She skidded across the floor to the side of the pitch where she laid, a battered KO'd pile. Joe finished cracking the ice off of Ralph's wing when he heard his Pokémon's pain filled cry. He looked up to see Nami sliding across the pitch unconscious, a focus punch striking her on the cheek. Kadabra blew on its brown fist which quickly turned back to yellow and it gave a victorious cackle. "Damn." Joe muttered, amazed by the power it had created in its small hand. _See, I keep telling you. Kadabra gets too much fun out of that move. You should never have taught her it._ Alakazam whispered inside Sabrina's head. She sighed. **I guess you're right. But at least she isn't killing Pokémon with it.** _She nearly did. I think you should be a little farer on them now. Restrain her from using that move. The boy needs to have his Pokémon alive in order to fight Team Rocket after all._ **Alright, Alright. I'll do so.**

"Kadabra." Sabrina called out. Kadabra obediently turned to face her, a sadistic smile in its eyes. "No using Focus Punch. It's too powerful. You're hurting his Pokémon too much." Kadabra looked deflated. It enjoyed using that move. But she couldn't disobey her trainer. If she did, she's have Alakazam to deal with. The old man was too grumpy for his own good. Kadabra nodded obediently, still looking sad about it. She slowly turned back around and waited patiently for Joe's next Pokémon. The trainer had withdrawn Nami, quickly making sure she wasn't too badly hurt. She had taken Kadabra's attack head on and it looked like it had done some really damage.

"You did well, Nami. You'll get 'em next time." He comforted her as he gave her a quick Sitrus berry and withdrew her back into her red pokéball. He then returned to his side of the field and readied his next Pokémon. Then he thought for a second. His eyes turned to Ralph. Ralph was quick and could do a lot of damage. He may be the best idea for taking out Kadabra and Alakazam before they do any more real damage. "Ralph, do you want up next?" He asked. Ralph considered the offer for a second then nodded. Before he could head out into the battlefield however Joe passed his a Lum berry. "Use it if Kadabra confuses you. That seems to be its tactic. Watch out for that." Ralph nodded understanding and took up position. "Now, Ralph, use Wing attack!" Joe commanded. Ralph shot forwards, wings outstretched.

"Psybeam." Sabrina instructed, raising a hand to Ralph. Kadabra raised its spoon and the pink beam shot out of the tip. Ralph rolled around the beam, narrowly avoiding touching it. He flew past Kadabra, hitting it in the side with his wing tip and knocking it aside. Kadabra winced in pain and readied up to make another move. As Ralph came back around to attack Kadabra disappeared into a vortex and reappeared behind him, creating a thin purple wall in front of it by waving its spoon holding hand about in front of it. The wall glistened like coloured glass in the roof lights.

"Ralph, use Air Cutter!" Joe instructed, a strategy forming in his head. Ralph pulled back his wings and released the heavy cutting gust of wind. The wing battered the reflect and passed through, cutting at Kadabra but more weekly after passing the barrier. Kadabra growled in annoyance.

"Kinesis!" Sabrina instructed. Kadabra threw its metal spoon up into the air where it hovered for several seconds. As it did so it began to move around wildly, the head bending back and forth from psychic energy. Ralph found himself watching it as he came in to attack again. He aimed for Kadabra with another Wing attack but his attack missed as his attention was drawn away by the floating spoon. Kadabra took full advantage and fired a Psybeam into his back, taking him by surprise and causing a lot of damage. Ralph's eyes rolled in their sockets, the psychic energy stunning him and sending him somersaulting in a full circle in the air. When he finally regained the ability to fly he saw another Psybeam heading straight for him. Quickly he dropped out of the air, just avoiding being hit and swooped in again, aiming to bite Kadabra. He landed his attack, smashing straight through the reflect and bringing his sharp fangs down into Kadabra's arm. It yelled in pain and punched at its head, trying to hit him of but Ralph would not budge. Finally he pulled back, releasing his grip and giving a huge flap of his wings, pushing him back out of distance of being hit. Joe laughed at his performance.

"Nice poison fang, Ralph." He called to his friend. "Now you just need to… LOOK OUT!" he cried suddenly. Ralph turned to see a Focus punch sailing up into the air towards him. Somehow the move worked airborne as well. Ralph fluttered aside quickly, narrowly avoiding the attack, only to be hit by a Psybeam seconds after as Kadabra stopped in mid air where he had been and fired the attack out of its now returned spoon.

"What are you doing?" Sabrina commanded, surprise, annoyance, anger and disgruntlement mixing in her voice. "I ordered you not to use Focus Punch!" Kadabra ignored her calls. She was too eager to bring down this overgrown annoying bat before it could bite her again. She levitated after Ralph who flew an entire track around the pitch before turning around in mid air and firing a small dot of ghostly light out from his mouth and sending it floating around in the air. The dot rotated around Kadabra's head, causing it to spin around following its direction, getting faster and faster after the dot moved. Suddenly the dot faded away in an instant and left Kadabra floating in mid air, its head spinning in confusion. Ralph smiled to himself and let out an ear piercing screech which took Kadabra by surprise, lowering its guard and causing it a little damage in its confused state.

"Good set up. Now finish it with Steel Wing!" Joe instructed. Ralph straightened its wings which began to glisten silver in the light. He flew forwards and lashed out with his wings, hitting the stunned Kadabra ain the chest and knocking it out of the air. As his attack landed however Kadabra released its attack. A bright brown punch struck Ralph in the side just as his wing tip hit Kadabra in the stomach and the two Pokémon were sent flying backwards out of the air. Both Pokémon dropped to the ground, Ralph floating gentle as his wings caught the air and slowed him. Kadabra however did so less gracefully. It struck the ground head first, hitting its cranium on the hard polished floor and knocking itself out instantly. Ralph landed on his small feet and lent on his front wings, looking at the unconscious Pokémon before him. A proud smile appeared on his face. "Alright Ralph." Joe cheered. Sabrina seemed to smile too.

"There is no denying your Pokémon are powerful. Especially your Crobat friend there. I have never seen a Pokémon stand up so well to Focus Punch." She complemented. Joe smiled to her.

"You know for an Ex-Team Rocket Elite you're quite nice to your opponents." He complemented in return. Sabrina found herself laughing quietly because of this.

"Is that so?" She asked. Joe nodded. "Well then I'd better change that quick, hadn't I. Alakazam, out you come again." She didn't even need to reach for the ball this time. It simply flung open and her strongest Pokémon appeared in a beam of red light. _Hello again._ A new voice whispered inside Joe's head. He glanced surprised at the powerful psychic Pokémon before him.

"Miss, your Pokémon is talking to me!" He told her. Sabrina smiled, not alarmed.

"Oh don't mind him. He has a tendency to do that. Just be careful about what you think. He can ready our mind and predict your moves." She explained. Joe seemed a little surprised by how much she was telling him. Why would she give him advice like that? Surely she'd want to keep that a secret in order to have the advantage.

"Well anyway. Back to the battle." Joe coughed and returned his attention to Ralph. Alakazam was smiling at Ralph. _No hard feeling?_ He asked the purple bat, almost mocking his chances. Ralph growled at him. He didn't find being mocked to be impressive or even threatening. "Use Screech to lower its defence." Joe strategized. Ralph created another high pitch screech from his mouth and Alakazam covered its ears in pain. He took full advantage of its distraction and flew in to use a full on body slam. As he was about to make his attack however Alakazam suddenly retaliated, evading Ralph's attack and grabbing him by the outstretched wing. It then proceeded to swing him around and around, making his slowly dizzier. Finally he released, sending Ralph flying away in a spinning ball through the air. He managed to catch himself in time before he could hit the floor but his head shook wildly. He felt the nausea of confusion coming on. Then he remembered his Lum berry which he had hid under hit tongue. It lapped it out and bit down on it, the juices inside instantly getting to work. He could feel the confusion fading away again. His vision returned to one single image and his ears stopped ringing. As he began to hear properly again he realised that Sabrina was explaining something to Joe.

"If your Pokémon makes a hit, mine will return it with double the damage. That's how counter works." She told the young trainer challenging her. She then raised a hand up to Ralph. "Psychic!" She instructed. Alakazam raised its spoons up at him and sent a large blob of psychic energy up at Ralph. Before he could even react Ralph was sent flying backwards as the attack struck him and stunned him completely. He landed painfully on his stomach, desperately keeping himself standing with his long wings. Alakazam hovered before him, readying another attack. _Nice try._ It complemented him. _You were actually a worthy opponent to fight. _It was cut off suddenly by a sudden burst of red light and fire blasted by its face. It jumped back in surprise, exclaiming and glanced to where the attack had come from. Standing at the edge of the ring was a young, arrogant looking charmeleon, smoke drifting from its nostrils and fire burning at the tip of its tail. _What the…_ Alakazam exclaimed. _You can't have two Pokémon against one. That's against the rules! _It turned to Sabrina, shouting the words into her mind. Sabrina waved a hand. **Let it be. I want to see how this goes.** She told it simply. Cinders waddled up to Ralph's side and gave him a hand up. The battered crobat looked gratefully at the younger charmeleon and pointed around the arena, seemingly coming up with a plan. He seemed to be indicating a tag team style combination. After a few seconds Cinders nodded in understanding and tapped his knuckles together.

"Cinders, what are you doing? Get back here at once!" Joe snapped. Sabrina stopped him immediately.

"No." She said, simply. "Let him fight. I want to see how this turns out." Cinders rushed forwards, his claw glowing white with energy. He brought it up hard on Alakazam's chin, who was still quite stunned by what was going on, sending him spinning backwards. Ralph followed up with an Air Cutter, lashing up the air around it and cutting at it. Alakazam began to get angry. Its eyes glowed blue-pink and the air around it began to ripple with psychic energy. It fired a huge psychic out from its body which hit both Pokémon simultaneously. They flinched in pain but seemed to withstand most of the damage. Ralph shot in for a wing attack but found himself knocked backwards as his head struck Alakazam's protect. Cinders ran in and tried to use metal claw but Alakazam countered it, punching him in the stomach and sending him rolling past, winded. Alakazam then proceeded to hold its spoons to its head and small psychic waves began to emanate out around it as its mind cleared up. It could here Sabrina's commands echoing in its mind. Their psychic link meant she did not need to tell him what to do aloud and could instead tell him without the opponent hearing. It was their major game changer. **Recover. **He heard her instruct. He held his spoons to his chest and his health shot back up to full. His strength returned to its fullest and he readied to fight again. Ralph came back for another attack but found himself plummeting out of the air after another Psychic hit him. Cinders breathed a plume of fire onto it but when the heat died away he saw that Alakazam was unharmed, a protect shield blocking it and keeping it safe. Joe was beginning to become worried by his Pokémon not landing a hit.

"Attack together." He told them. Ralph used Wing attack, Cinders used Slash and both Pokémon moved in for the KO. Alakazam released a huge burst of psychic energy out around it and the two Pokémon went sailing back. Ralph was out for the count. He had taken too much damage. Cinders however got back up. He wasn't giving up so easily. His claw glowed white and he came in to slash again. He brought his claw down on Alakazam, hurting it slightly. As his attack hit the light grew along his arm, spreading to his shoulder. He made another slash with is other arm. The light too spread up that arm. Alakazam tried to counter him but he released a heavy plume of fire out of his maw and engulfed it in the fire. As it did so the fire began to engulf Cinders, too, the same way it had done when he evolved for the first time. It grew around his till he was nothing but a burning ball of fire. All eyes watched him in amazement. Suddenly the huge sphere burst, releasing a gigantic wave of fire out over the pitch. At the centre of the burning pillar was a large, winged fire dragon, two small eyes sitting on its head, a long thick tail perturbing from its spine end and a two huge wings unfolding out from its back. The charizard finished its attack and roared magnificently, unfolding its wings and stretching them out. Alakazam stared up at the new Pokémon, completely stunned. It said nothing witty, intimidating or even clever. It said nothing at all. Cinders looked down at him, no longer intimidated and he chuckled. He poked the charred, burned psychic pokémon in the chest and it fell over, stiffly, landing unconscious on its tailless back. Cinders folded his arms and buffed a small flame from his mouth, standing calmly and unsurprised between the carnage and stunned expressions.

"Oh… My… Goodness!" Joe exclaimed, finally processing what he was seeing. "Cinders, you beautiful monster, you!" He cried, rushing up and hugging the large lizard around his fat waist. Cinders hugged him back, smiling cheekily at Ralph who smiled weakly back. Sabrina stared at the three opponents now hugging and congratulating each other. She withdrew Alakazam quickly and chuckled.

"If I admit I foresaw my defeat would you believe me?" She asked. Joe looked back at her, a huge grin on his face. "Though I must admit I didn't see that coming." She added.

"Don't worry about it." Joe told her kindly. "You were a tough opponent. I nearly didn't win. I can see why Team Rocket would have wanted you on their side." Sabrina smiled gratefully.

"I do believe it is time for me to reward your winning." She told him, pulling out a small glistening gym badge from her pocket. "This is yours now. The Marsh Badge, as a symbol that you beat me at my best." She handed the small circular golden badge to Joe who took it gently and added it to the other five he already had.

"Thank you." He complemented. Sabrina laughed and put a shoulder on his hand.

"No. Thank you." She said simply and calmly. Joe seemed unsure about what she was thanking him for. "You have shown me that you can defeat the new team rocket you do have the power. You're just not ready yet. Defeat Blaine on Cinnabar Island and then you'll be ready." She paused. "But first take this with you." She handed Joe two small TM discs. One was pink tinted; the other was a more sky blue in colour. "The TM's for Psychic and Aerial Ace." She explained. "Use them on two of your pokémon and they'll prove to be incredibly helpful in the future."

"Thank you." Joe said finally after taking the gifts.

"Good luck, trainer." Sabrina called after him as he took for the door, bringing his unconscious and conscious pokémon with him.

The second he walked out he was suddenly dragged along by a thin girls hand who rushed past him and suddenly dragged him along. He barely had a second to think before he found himself running, being dragged along by the figure that had his hand.

"What…?" he asked confused. Two green eyes looked into his blue ones through a set of long waving orange hair.

"Run!" Winter instructed simply, fearful anxiety in her voice. Joe tried to get her grip of him but she held on tight. Ralph and Cinders were struggling to keep up.

"Why are we running?" Joe asked, nearly tripping over his feet. "Where's Rocky?"

"No time to explain." Winter snapped back, turning a corner and dragging him with her. Ralph and Cinders followed, nearly running past them as they shot down an alleyway. "Rocky's up ahead. All you need to know is that our gang hunt went really bad, really quick. There were more of them then we were expecting."

"How many more?" Joe asked, now actually beginning to understand her fear and why they were running. Suddenly Winter skidded to a halt. Before them stood Rocky, his four pokémon surrounding him and protecting him. Before him were at least a dozen thuggish looking men with heavy leather jackets and knuckled gloves. There were running footsteps behind them and Joe turned to see another dozen closing in behind them. Now they were trapped and Ralph was not strong enough to fly all of them out.

"That many." Winter replied. The gangsters closed in around them, revealing a selection of blunt weaponry.

"How did the gym battle go, by the way?" Rocky asked. Joe glared at him.

"This is hardly the time for that." Joe told him, almost sarcastically. One of the gangsters raised a hand toward the three of them.

"Nab 'em!" He shouted. Joe sighed.

"Here we go again!"


	27. Chapter 27: The Fighting Dojo

The team stood surrounded by lines upon lines of thugs and gangsters. They stood back to back, creating a small circle in which to protect themselves. Joe stood on one side, Ralph and Cinders, his newly evolved charizard, guarding in front of him. Rocky stood, his back to him, his own pokémon, Crash, Chopper, Mina, Ely and Gargoyle, his new aerodactyl, guarded in front of him. Winter stood with her back to both of them, in front of her standing her Pokémon, Staryu, River, Lucky, Zephyr, her new pidgeotto and... a poliwhirl. Joe didn't remember her having a poliwhirl before. It took him a while to realise but it was in fact Winter's old Poliwag, Stream. It must have evolved at some point while he was in the gym fighting Sabrina. One of the gangsters raised a hand out and began shouted instructions.

"Grab 'em. Net them all. Leave none to escape!" the thugs up front began to march closer and closer, shrinking the circle around the trio. They readied to fight back.

"Ralph, use air cutter!" Joe Instructed quietly. Ralph fired a gust of cutting wing at the thugs which ripped at their clothing and shredded the nets in their hands. The thugs up front looked at each other and growled in frustration. They began to charge in, aiming to grab the children. "Cinders, flamethrower!" Joe continued. Cinders fired a huge plume of charring fire out of his huge mouth which halted before the thugs; causing them to skid to a stop otherwise they'd be burned up in the flames.

"We can't fight all of them off!" Winter called to Joe, ordering Stream to fire a huge blast of water at a small cluster of charging thugs.

"We can take them. Just keep fighting." Rocky responded as Gargoyle threw a huge cluster of large boulders at the crowd of thugs, knocking over at least seven of them.

"Ralph, can you get us out of here?" Joe asked as Cinders creating a huge gust air then knocked over several more grunts. Ralph shook his head. He wouldn't be able to carry them all. Another thug came running in, carrying another net. He readied it and threw it up into the air where it spread out and fell back down, aiming for Cinders. He looked up and immediately reacted, breathing hot red fire up into the air and burning away the ropes. The ragged net fell to the ground around him, small particles of ash falling slowly around him like snowflakes.

"What about Cinders?" Winter asked, narrowly avoiding being hit by a thug that had managed to break their line.

"Cinders, can you get us out of here?" Joe asked. Cinders looked a little unsure. He had only just evolved and his trainer was asking him to carry three people and a bunch of other pokémon. He shook his head, defiantly. "Damn it!" Joe exclaimed. Then he remembered his shield, the one his uncle had given him when he left Pallet town that morning. He stepped in front of Ralph and Cinders, raising his arm with the device wrapped around it up and readying to extend the shield. As he did so a couple of grunt stepped out in front of the line, carrying small yellow coloured hand guns. The guns seemed to have two holes in the barrel rather than one. Joe watch as one of the thugs fired, a small black plug firing out from the gun and hitting Ralph on the wing. Instantly he seized up and fell to the ground, wincing, shaking and writhing as several volts of electricity shot through his body and paralysed him on the ground, unable to fight back or remove them. "Ralph!" Joe shouted, seeing his friend hit the floor as the plugs dug into his skin. Another thug fired and Joe released his shield. The large diamond shaped metal barrier grew out instantly and protected him. The other thugs fired in surprise to seeing such a tool. Joe readied for the taser shots to hit his shield and electrocute him too but to his surprise it never happened. He looked over the edge of his shield to see eight taser plugs lying on the floor a foot away from him. Around the group stood a huge invisible glimmering force field, resembling that of a protect field, protecting each of them from being attacked. The thugs in front of them stepped back in sudden surprise. They hadn't been expecting this. Even Joe found himself surprised. He'd forgotten that it could do that. His uncle had mentioned it but he never thought it would be such a big radius. Ralph got back up again, looking exhausted and beaten. The wires attached to the taser plugs had been cut when the shield fell around the group and onto them, meaning the electricity going down it could no longer reach him. One of the grunts tried to break through the barrier but his hand simply bounced of it, leaving him rubbing it in pain.

"How are you doing that?" Winter exclaimed in surprise, staring at the blue and white shield on Joe's wrist. He looked down at it then back at her.

"I have no idea!" He shouted back. For several seconds they stood in safety, mocking the angry thugs standing around them. Suddenly the protect field began to shimmer and fade.

"It's wearing off!" Rocky warned him. Joe looked at the shield to see a small metre on the right underside. The metre's energy was getting dangerously low.

"I guess the shield doesn't have infinite energy then." He thought aloud, getting ready to attack again. Something struck the top of the shield, creating a loud bump sound. All three trainers and their pokémon looked up. A tall, brown figure slid down the field and landed in front of it, readying his arms and flexing his long, elastic looking legs. There was another bump. Another figure landed on the top of the field and slid down it, this time going down the other side. It too readied to attack, wearing huge red boxing gloves on its arms. A third figure dropped down. This one was more human looking, wearing a white martial arts robe and black belt. He landed on the ground in front of the trio just as the shield faded away. Immediately the thugs charged back in. The three figures got instantly to work. There was a blur of motion and within seconds at least half of the thugs that had attacked lay unconscious and beaten on the ground. The two fighting pokémon cracked their knuckles and waited for more enemies to fight. The thugs edge back and ran; dropping any weapons they had been carrying and turning tail back down the alleyway. These new figures where too strong for them to fight. Once every one of the grunts had fled the human figure turned around to face the children. He did not speak.

"Uh, thank you." Joe said, grateful for the help. "That was a pretty sticky situation you got us out of." The figure did not respond. There were several seconds of silence.

"We owe you our thanks." Winter told him, joining her friend's side. "If you hadn't turned up we might not be here right now." Still the figure did not speak. He pulled out two pokéballs and withdrew both of the fighting pokémon that had been protecting them.

"Is one of you Joe Glende?" He asked finally, taking the trio by surprise. Joe stepped up.

"I am. How do you know my name?" Joe asked. The figure folded his arms.

"Sabrina contacted me. She saw that you would get into trouble down here and she asked me to help you out. That is what I have just done." The figure explained.

"Well thank you for that." Rocky started. "But I still don't see why we should trust you." The figure rubbed his chin.

"Well I suppose I should start with my name." He told them, extending a hand. "I am Don, the Fighting Dojo Master. I run the fighting dojo next to the gym. I train people and pokémon in how to fight." Joe shook his hand.

"Right." He replied, not sounding to trusting. "Well you obviously know who I am. And these are…" He began, gesturing to his friends behind them.

"I know who they are, too." Don interrupted, hardly moving his gaze. "I know all about what you're doing here. You need to train up to fight Team Rocket. That's part of the reason I came to find you." Joe and his friends shared glances.

"You want to help us?" He asked. Don gave a small chuckle.

"Child I already have, or is your memory so short you don't remember." He asked. The two fighting type pokémon beside him joined in with his laughing. One of them didn't even have a mouth! Joe didn't seem to find it as funny as they did.

"Alright, so how exactly do you plan to help us? Give us a new pokémon or train our current ones up? Or are you just going to laugh at us all day long?" he asked, sarcasm and disapproval running through his voice like fire. Don stopped his laughing, whipping a tear from his eye, a huge grin across his square face.

"I intended to do all three." He said simply, his smile growing slightly.

There was a flick of a heavy switch and slowly several rows of old but bright room lights flashed on, a couple blinking slightly as electricity began to run through them again, illuminating the wire that ran through the bulbs. The room they were standing in was a large, martial arts styled dojo with fake wooden walks and paper windows which had solid metal behind so no one would dare try and break them for fear of breaking a limb. In the middle were a white foam floor and several different coloured punching bags, some with wooden appendages to hit back with. Along the walls that weren't taken up with windows were, surprisingly enough, a large collection of different styled paintings and sketches, some of pokémon, others of landscapes but all related to fighting in some way. One that was eye catching in particular was an oil painting of Don himself fighting against both his pokémon at the same time atop a hill looking out over a flowery field. The unique use of the oil paint made the action look blurred like the attacks were still being made. Joe, Winter, Rocky and Ralph all let out an amazed gasp in unison. The place was huge and surprisingly homey looking. Don had led them out of the alleyway, away from the thug's den and to the pokémon centre to heal up their pokémon. After that he had lead them here, almost unthinkingly, taking each turn and stopping at every traffic light he recognised as the right direction. Now they were all standing inside his dojo and waiting for what he had in mind to teach them. Don walked past them and stopped on the opposite side of the mat. His two pokémon immediately got to work moving the punching bags of to the sides and then returning to a calm standing position behind him. Joe stepped up. Ralph followed after him but Don waved a hand, instructing him to stay back.

"So, Joe. Joe in the Dojo." He laughed again, snorting slightly as he did so. His pokémon joined in again. Joe rolled his eyes.

"Ok, so what am I doing here?" He asked, this time no sarcasm in his voice, just annoyance. Don clapped his hands together.

"I have brought you here to train you to defend yourself, the same way a fighting type would do." He responded, simply. "I wish to teach you how to fight so that the next time a rocket grunt grabs you he's in for real trouble. With the help of Hitmonlee and Hitmonchan here I am to do so. Of course I do need your permission to do so." He added. Joe shrugged.

"I guess it couldn't hurt." He agreed. The second after saying so he knew he would regret that choice of words.

"Uh, excuse me. What about us three?" Winter asked, calling out to him from the back of the surprisingly empty dojo. Don glanced back at them. For a minute there he had totally forgotten about his friends.

"Do neither of you not have fighting types?" He asked them. Rocky nodded and released Chopper from his pokéball. Winter however shook her head.

"No. The closest thing I have to one is a poliwhirl." She explained. Don didn't seem deflated by this.

"Do you have a water stone?" He asked. Winter shook her head. Don stroked his shaven chin. "Alright. Send it over to me." He called. Winter did so, not exactly sure why he wanted Stream over there but she didn't feel he was untrustworthy. She released the round, blue tadpole pokémon from its pokéball and pointed towards Don, explaining what he was supposed to do. Seconds later Stream was running happily along the white foam floor, seemingly unthreatened of a new face. He stopped in front of Don and looked up at him, his huge round eyes staring dumbly into his face. Don smiled. He turned around and pulled out a small wooden chest from under one of the floorboards. The chest was so small it could be held easily in two hands. He flicked it open and a multitude of colour flooded out onto his face and body. Oranges, yellows, blues, greens, dark blacks, pail whites, burned reds, all kinds of colour seemingly reflecting off several colourful stones. He pulled out one of them, a long yet still small sea blue shard which he held in one tough hand. A water stone. He handed it to Stream who immediately took it from him. The second he touched it his body began to glow white and expand. When the light faded he was taller, bigger, heavier and a lot more menacing looking. The new poliwrath flexed its arms and bashed them together. Already ready to fight something with its new power. Winter seemed quite shocked by what Don had just done. She wanted to evolve Stream into a politoad. Well there wasn't much she could do about it now. Stream rushed over to her again and tried to hug her but the end result was more like a rugby tackle. Winter pushed her pokémon off her and tried to get back onto her feet. Rocky took her hand and helped her up. "You two can train with your fighting types over there while I teach Joe how to fight" Don continued. He turned back to Joe who had just taken his bag of and put it to the side. He knew it would just get in the way otherwise.

"So what now?" He asked.

"Now?" Don repealed, cracking his knuckles and stepping up to stand in front of Joe. He loomed over him, standing at least a foot higher than the young trainer. "Now, I want you to punch me." He told him, simply. Joe seemed unsure about this. Don flexed his shoulders. "Don't worry I won't hit back. I just want to see how strong you are." He explained. Joe relaxed a little. He pulled back his arm and threw his fist at the centre of Dom's chest. His knuckles bounced of his tough skin and his punch stopped against his chest. Dom looked down and laughed. "You call that a punch?" He bawled, hardly able to keep himself standing he was laughing so much. "I take more damage from when a fly lands on me." He continued to taunt. Joe began to get a little angry. He tried again, this time aiming for his stomach. His fist struck Don and he flinched forwards, wincing with pain, holding his arms to his stomach.

"Did that hurt?" Joe mocked him now. Don looked up and smiled.

"Good one. Aiming for a weaker area. Smart." He stood up straight again, shaking of the pain. "Well it's clear you don't have much physical strength. So maybe it would be best to teach you how to turn your opponent's strength against them." He decided. He waived a hand and Hitmonlee, the long legged fighting pokémon (With no mouth) stepped forwards and took his place. The pokémon stood calmly in front of the young trainer, waiting for instructions. Joe held out a hand to great him and to his surprise Hitmonlee actually took it. Not before giving him a stern, suspicious look, however. "Ok, Hitmonlee is going to attack you and I want you to dodge his attack. Ok?" Don began to instruct. Joe glanced back at him.

"But how do I know when…" He was about to ask when suddenly his legs were pulled out from under him by Hitmonlee performing a sweeping kick. Winter, Rocky and Ralph winced as he hit the floor. Joe landed painfully on his front and rolled over to see Hitmonlee standing over him, a thin stick arm with three flat fingers reaching down to him. Joe took the hand and lifted himself back onto his feet.

"Concentrate!" He heard Don's voice instructing him. "You stopped paying attention to your opponent and gave him the upper hand. Focus on him and you'll see the attacks coming." Hitmonlee took up position again, ready to fight. Joe tensed himself, waiting for it to attack him. Hitmonlee quickly dropped to the floor, spun around and stuck out one sharp toed foot, swinging it back around and aiming to sweep Joe over again. This time however Joe saw it coming. He jumped up over the leg as it passed under him and landed unharmed on both feet. Hitmonlee slid back into a standing position and jumped up, raising a knee up and hitting Joe in the chin, knocking him onto his back. It then landed over him, staring down into his face. Quickly the angry energy faded from his face and he helped his opponent up again. "Better." Don called. "You're getting there. Now try and return an attack after dodging one."

"This is ridiculous." Joe shouted back. "I'm not a pokémon. I might break something fighting him." Don folded his arms.

"Being a human doesn't mean you are weak. I once knew a man who could take out over a hundred machamp in under a minute without getting hit once. He never gave up. He had to learn just like you do."

"You made that all up, didn't you?" Joe asked him, suspiciously. Don shook his head after a couple of seconds.

"Now get on with it!" He snapped. Hitmonlee attacked again, this time forgetting the sweeping kick and coming in with a full uppercut kick. Joe slid aside, just avoiding being hit and stuck his foot into Hitmonlee's stationary leg, hitting it in the ankle. Immediately Hitmonlee yelped in pain and reached down to tend to its hurt leg. As it did so however it lost balance and toppled over, landing on its back. Now Joe was the one to stand over it, offering a hand. "Very good!" Don clapped, watching Joe pull of a successful counter attack. Hitmonlee took his hand, giving Joe a grateful yet slightly annoyed glare as he got himself up. "You're on the right track now. Just try it in a couple of different scenarios and I think we'll be getting somewhere."

Ralph yawned noisily. It was boring watching his trainer spar with another pokémon, especially one that was not one of his own. Beside him Winter and Rocky were trying to train their pokémon in fighting. Currently they had Chopper and Stream fighting one another. It didn't seem like much of a fair fight, however as Stream only knew one fighting type move, Submission, and using that seemed to do more damage to it than its opponent. He yawned again. It was pointless him trying to spar like the others. He didn't have the right limbs for such actions. Besides he didn't need to rely on countering an opponent. He had speed on his side. As the minutes past Ralph got steadily more and more bored. Eventually he decided he'd had enough of waiting. He turned and flew over towards the door. He thought he'd go sightseeing or at least find something to do. Saffron City was huge. There must be something for him to do out there, even if it's scaring away pidgeys. Carefully, when no one was paying attention, he snuck out through the main door and closed it slowly behind him. Immediately he felt the cool city air strike him in the face, lifting hit up slightly as it caught under his winds. There was something about the big city that was different to those small towns and the countryside. The air here not only felt stale and smoggy but it also stank of sweat, fuel, abuse and wasted potential. Ralph choked on the smells, covering his nose with one large bat wing. He'd take the smell of the wilderness or of dank caves any day. He decided to fly around for a bit, get a look at the city he was currently in. He lifted himself upwards, using the wind to raise him up and soared higher into the sky. He stopped about 20 feet above the ground, looking around through the city. Surprisingly enough he was still under the roof line for several building. He watched as the city moved about underneath and around him. Not too far away a bunch of shopping stalls had been set up in a more open market area of the city. From what Ralph could see there seemed to be all matter of colourful and strange items being sold, some of which he could not even begin to comprehend the use for. On another part of the city, a bit further away, he could see a small grass field with several younger children playing around on large pieces of metal shaped into strange positions with chains and wood and plastic hanging of them. He remembered some of the stories Joe had told him. Stories of places and objects like that where he and his friends used to play when he was younger. He had called them Play Parks. He looked to the left and saw that down the street another couple of trainers were entering the gym to face Sabrina. One of them had a flareon, the other had a rather young looking psyduck. After a small argument that was only just audible to Ralph they hurried inside. They both looked very young and, having already battle Sabrina, he knew they weren't going to win. He continued to look around, now passing a thin alleyway. As he passed by he heard whispering voices coming from further down. He stopped and listened more carefully. The voices became more audible. As he listened he heard one of them whispering something that made his blood boil.

"Them rocket fellas'll pay us good for des specimens we give 'em." Ralph shuddered. What specimens where they talking about? Whatever it was it was in no way good. He glanced back at the Dojo. He should go and tell Joe about this. No. There was no time. He had to find out what they planned to sell the Rockets before they got away. Slowly, cautiously he glided down the alleyway towards the voices.

"Excellent!" Don cheered as Joe dodged Hitmonchan's punch and pulled its arm back, tackling it to the ground with ease. Behind him Hitmonlee was coming up with a sliding kick but Joe saw it coming and jumped over it, landing on its long, limber leg and pinning it to the ground. "Amazing performance. You've learned phenomenally quickly!" Joe bowed respectfully towards Don, moving his foot of Hitmonlee's leg and letting it get back up. Hitmonlee quickly took position besides its brother, Hitmonchan and they too bowed. Winter and Rocky had stopped their practice battle to watch and were now clapping as they watch Joe take on two fully trained fighting type pokémon. "Bloody marvellous!" Don continued, stepping up to stand in front of Joe.

"Go Joe!" Winter cheered from the sides. Joe blushed slightly and a small smile appeared on his face.

"I've never seen someone learn that quickly before. You're really something, kid." Don complemented. Joe nodded.

"Thank you for training me. I think I'll be able to get out of any sticky situations I may fall into now." Joe shook his hand. Don patted his shoulder.

"We're not done yet my friend. There's one last thing I want to do for you." He stepped back and ordered his two pokémon to stand in front of him. They both stepped forwards and lined up, one on each side of their trainer. Don raised a hand over each of them. "Choose." He said, simply. Joe stood for a couple of seconds.

"Choose what?" He asked.

"Choose which one you wish to use in your battle against me." Don explained with more detail. Joe was silent again.

"I don't know." He quietly admitted. "Is there a difference between them?

"Oh so you want me to explain them for you?" Don asked. "Ok then. Pay attention." He took a long, deep breath. When he exhaled he began. "Hitmonlee is the Kicking Pokémon. Hitmonchan is the Punching Pokémon. Both are fighting type and evolutions of the same pokémon, tyrogue. Hitmonlee has higher attack, Hitmonchan has higher defence. Hitmonchan has keen eyes and its accuracy cannot be lowered, Hitmonlee has limber and cannot be paralysed. Both are male and only male. Hitmonlee relies on kicking for its attacks; Hitmonchan relies on punching for its attacks. Hitmonlee is faster. Hitmonchan can learn the elemental punches. Two famous martial artists are named after them. Any questions?" He said in one full breath. Joe just stared at him, his mind slowly figuring out what he had said.

"Wow." He breathed; still processing the amount of data he had just been given. "That's a lot."

"I can tell you their move sets if you want." Don added. Joe immediately shook his hand.

"No. No. That's not necessary." He quickly interrupted. Don shrugged.

"Ok. Just hurry up and pick." He nagged. Joe looked at the two pokémon for a couple of seconds. Both of them looked tough and able to hold their own against people like team rocket. He just couldn't really decide on which to choose. It didn't seem like it would be such a tough choice but for some reason it was. After a minute of furious thinking he found himself biased towards Hitmonlee. It had already proven to be agile and quick, able to knock Joe down in seconds with its quick moving, long, stretching legs. As he thought about it the choice seemed obvious. He raised a hand out and pointed towards his chosen pokémon.

"I'm going with Hitmonlee." He announced. Don nodded.

"Alright. Then I pick Hitmonchan." He told him. Both pokémon took positions beside their designated trainer. Joe quickly whipped out his pokedex to check Hitmonlee's move set. It read 'Move set for Hitmonlee: Low kick, Double Kick, Meditate, Jump Kick.' Then it switched off again.

"That's a lot of kicks." Joe joked to himself. He looked back up to see Don and Hitmonchan had set up position on the opposite side of the mat, now to be used as the battle field. "You ready, Hitmonlee?" Joe asked. Hitmonlee nodded and cracked its knuckles. Don raised his arm up, shouting his first command.

"Hitmonchan, use Comet Punch!" He instructed. Hitmonchan rushed forwards and readied its boxing glove hand to punch.

"Hitmonlee, Double kick!" Joe called. Hitmonlee shot forwards at high speed, taking huge bounding, leaping steps, flexing its legs as it ran. It jumped directly over Hitmonchan's volley of punches and landed safely behind it on its two feet and jumped again, this time kicking out twice with one leg and hitting Hitmonchan in the face as it spun around. Hitmonchan stumbled backwards and raised its guard. "Jump Kick!" Joe called again.

"Thunder Punch!" Don instructed. Hitmonchan blocked Hitmonlee's incoming attack with its soft gloves and struck it in the chest, zapping Hitmonlee and knocking it back. Hitmonlee was not paralysed by the attack but he certainly took damage. Joe grunted, seeing the damage his pokémon had taken.

"Hitmonlee, dodge its punches then use a low kick on its legs." He coached. Hitmonlee ran up and slid through Hitmonchan's legs when it went in for an Ice Punch, causing it to punch the floor and freeze that area of the mat. As he slid out the other side he stuck a leg out and swept its feet out from under it. Hitmonchan landed with a painful thud on the ground, landing on its skirted back.

"Get up!" Don shouted. Hitmonchan got up instantly. "Fire Punch!" He commanded. Hitmonchan coated a fist in blazing fire and ran in, ready to attack.

"Quickly, meditate." Joe instructed. Hitmonlee sat down with its legs crossed, held it arms to the side and closed its eyes, calming its body and raising its awareness. Hitmonchan kept running, getting closer and closer. "Now use jump kick again!" Joe shouted suddenly. As Hitmonchan was about to strike Hitmonlee's eyes shot open. He leapt high into the air, avoiding the incoming punch and began to fall back down again. He spun around in mid air, stretching out his long leg and striking his opponent in the side of the head. Hitmonchan was knocked out cold before it even hit the floor. Hitmonlee landed safely on both feet, propping itself ready on one hand while holding the other in the air behind its back. Don was amazed. Joe immediately began cheering. "Yeah!" He shouted, clapping his hands together. "Nice going Hitmonlee!" His friends joined in the cheering from behind him. One of them even gave a small whistle. Hitmonchan began to get back up again but instead of going to attack it simply walked back over to its master's side, waiting for its next instructions. Don began to clap as well. He stepped back up again, going to congratulate his student.

"Excellent work, Joe." He smiled, slapping Joe roughly on the shoulder. "You truly are strong, both physically and strategically. Team Rocket doesn't stand a chance against you." Joe shrugged.

"Thanks for the help." He said, gratefully. He then stepped backwards. "If I come across a pokémon like Hitmonlee or Hitmonchan I'll make sure to add it to my team."

"Why wait?" Don asked, smiling knowingly. Joe looked at him confused. "He's yours now. You beat me so It' sonly fare." He gestured to Hitmonlee who was watching Joe with his black shrouded slit eyes. He seemed longing, as if he had actually enjoyed the trainers company Joe found this look quite surprising.

"You mean I can take Hitmonlee with me?" He asked. Don nodded. "But surely you need him, don't you?" Joe asked, unsure whether he was ready for a new pokémon just yet. Don shook his head.

"No, don't worry. I can take care of the Dojo and myself. Besides I still have Hitmonchan here." He patted his Pokémon's head who bashed his red boxing gloves together. Joe thought for a second. "Go on." Don encouraged. "Go on. You'll do great with him on your side. I can feel it." Joe just shrugged.

"I'm not sure." He said, quietly.

"Well I'll give you his pokéball and let you decide. If you want to keep him you can leave, if not I'll just take the ball back." Don explained, handing Joe a basic pokéball, Hitmonlee's pokéball. "Go ahead and give him a nickname if you want as well." Don added. "I imagine anything related to fighting would suit him." Hitmonlee nodded in agreement. Joe looked at the pokéball, still trying to decide.

"I don't know." He mumbled. "I should probably bring this up with…" He stopped, looking around behind him. "Where's Ralph he asked, suddenly. His friends gave him a surprised look, looked back and realised that Ralph had in fact disappeared.

"He was here a minute ago." Winter explained quickly, frantically looking around to see if she could see the large purple bat. "When you were training up against Don he was watching.

"He might have gone outside." Rocky told them. Immediately Joe rushed for the large, wooden, Japanese styled door, Winter, Rocky and Don following after him.

Ralph reached the end of the dark, underworld alleyway and peered around the corner. Before him were several thugs looking figures loading a collection of wooden box crates, each a different size, into the back of a large black van. The crates shook every now and then. Something was moving around inside of them. A fire burst through the side of one of the boxes, leaving a gaping, burning hole. Immediately the grunts jumped into action, grabbing the box and holding it down, pushing the pokémon inside back in so it couldn't escape. Ralph growled. Pokémon thieves. He should have known so. A thug passed by his hiding spot and he quickly slid back into the shadows, avoiding being seen. When he looked back he saw the final boxes being packed in. He didn't know what he could do to stop them. If he burst out and tried to stop them they'd probably just catch him, too. Besides that how would he bet the van doors open or even the boxes? As he was watching as shadow snuck up behind him. He glanced back and a brown sack bag fell over his head. Immediately he reacted in the only way he could. He screeched. The sound of his ear splitting cry passed over the entire city, causing all the thugs around him to cover their ears in pain. His cry was stopped by the top being roped up and leaving him struggling around in the bag like a work in a net.

"Did you hear that?" Joe asked, cupping a hand to his ear as he stood outside the Dojo in the now late daylight. Winter and Rocky joined his side, having run out from the Dojo as well.

"That sounded like Ralph's cry." Winter told them.

"I think it came from over there." Rocky added, pointing down an alleyway down the street. Immediately, without thinking or saying a word, Joe began to run in the direction of the Alley. Hitmonlee followed after him; going to make sure he didn't hurt himself.

"I've got a nickname you might like." Joe told it as they ran down the path. Hitmonlee glanced at him. "Carter." Joe continued. Hitmonlee nodded. He liked the sound of that. Someone else arrived next to the group.

"Don, what's going on?" Sabrina called as she ran down the road towards the remaining trainers. Don turned and tried to smile but at the current situation it didn't feel right.

"Sabrina" He called. "What are you doing out of the gym?" Sabrina stopped in front of them.

"I sensed that a pokémon had been stolen so I came to find out who, what, where and why. It looks like I may have found out where." She explained. "So what is happening and who's involved?" She asked.

"Ralph disappeared." Winter told her, speaking quickly so they didn't spend too long talking and loose where Joe and Ralph had gone. "Joe came out to look for him when we heard his screech from the distance. He's just run of in its direction."

"Ok." Sabrina noted. "Is it team rocket?"

"Don't know. It could be. But we need to catch up with them and help out either way." Rocky butted in, taking off after Joe and Hitmonlee who had just turned the corner down the alleyway.

"Rocky, wait." Winter tried to call after him but he paid her no attention, shooting down the paved stone road like an Olympic sprinter. She sighed and turned to poliwrath. "I guess we'd better get after them, Stream." She muttered to it. Stream nodded in agreement and ran alongside its trainer, heading towards the direction they had heard Ralph calling from.

Joe sprinted down the alley, careful not to slip on the gutter tiles and nearly crashing into a wall as he made a sharp turn. Rocky was catching up now; he could hear his heavy running footsteps getting closer. Carter – the hitmonlee – meanwhile was miles ahead, his long, elastic legs flexing and bending as they stretched out and pushed him forwards at a rate of at least 12 miles an hour. They saw tiles clattering down from above. They looked up to see Hitmonchan and Don running barefoot across the rooftops in the same direction they were heading. Hitmonchan glanced down at them and waved. Carter waved back. Suddenly they reached a turning into a small open clearing between the buildings and skidded to a standstill. Before them was a large black van with a big red R printed on the sides and several multi-sized boxes sitting both inside and by the van's back door. At least six thuggish figures were struggling to keep something big and apparently very troublesome inside a large sack bag. One extra thug, smaller but smarter looking then the others, stood beside the van, speaking into an I-pad like device with long handles on each side and a touchpad, apparently using some kind of video chat system. He was too far away for any of them to hear what he was saying to the person on the other end. As the bag the other men were carrying struggled a large, purple bat wing struck out the top and hit one of the thugs in the face as the others tried to fasten the opening shut.

"Ralph." Joe growled. He stepped out of the shadows, bellowing. "Oi! That's my pokémon you're stealing! Let him out!" All six figures turned to face him. A couple of them whipped out a set of small, yellow handguns with large barrels. Carter stepped in front of Joe to protect him and Hitmonchan landed next to him to join in the fight. Both pokémon rushed forwards and the thugs fired, sending wired plugs flying in their direction. Hitmonchan collapsed to the ground before it could make any attacks, wriggling and spasming as the electricity stunned its body and left it helpless. Carter however kept running, unfazed by the stunner gadgets that hit it. It seemed that Limber – its ability – included stun guns in the list of things that cannot paralyse it. The plugs struck his muscled body and simply dropped off. The grunts with guns stepped back, now feeling a little unnerved by this pokémon that they couldn't stop with tasers. The next load of grunts pulled out a couple of stun batons. The weapons flickered and buzzed as electricity ran down them. Carter saw them and jumped over the heads of the thugs, sailing past them and avoiding their swinging attacks. He landed safely behind them and struck back, standing on his arms and striking two of them in the face with his strong legs. He flipped back onto his feet and readied to fight properly. One thug ran up, swinging his baton but Carter simply pushed him aside and tripped him up with one swing of his leg. Another thug swung in and hit him on the shoulder, sending a jolt of electricity down his body. Crater flinched slightly but he seemed to take most of the attack. He swung around, grabbed the weapon by the tip and flung it aside, kicking the thug in the face and knocking him out. The two grunts he'd kicked down before got back up and now he was fighting all four of them. As one grunt rushed in he was hit in the face by the previous grunt's baton, stunning him and paralyzing him on the floor. As carter swung the baton he saw a logo on the side. It read 'VoltorbTec' and underneath the label was a rather angry looking voltorb, sparking with static electricity. To be honest Carter could sympathise with it. If people came along and began siphoning his electricity to use in weaponry he'd probably be pretty upset, too. He threw the baton aside where it hit one of the thugs as he went to get up in the face, paralysing him again. Only three opponents remained, excluding the one that had been using the dive who was cowering back, clearly no fighting spirit in him. He began to back away but he bumped into something tall and muscular. He turned to see Don, the martial arts master looking down at him, a menacing smile on his face.

"Where are you going to?" He asked a hint of laughter in his voice. The thug shrunk away, stepping back only to bump into another figure, this time Sabrina's alakazam. He looked up at the highly intelligent creature before taking a psychic to the face and falling unconscious to the floor, his pad device falling beside him, unharmed. Carter finished of the last of the thugs, Jumping high into the air and doing a split kick, hitting tow thugs coming in from the side in the face and knocking them out. He grabbed the last of the vandals by the collar and pulled him closer, giving him menacing eyes. The thug dropped his weapon and help his hand sup, screaming "I surrender!" Carter looked him up and down before putting him back onto his own feet and punching him square in the forehead. The thug spun around and fell face first into onto the wet street gutter, snoring like a pig. Carter dusted his hands and folded his arms, standing heroically over the pile of unconscious thugs. Joe stood watching in amazement during the entire battle. He had never seen anything like that before. It was like something out of a movie. Winter and Rocky turned the corner now and stopped upon the sight of the unconscious grunts.

"Oh, we missed it." She muttered, slightly disappointed at their loss to see a proper fight against thugs. The sack bag that now lay on the floor began to wriggle as Ralph pushed his way out, first his wing, then hit pointy ears and then his yellow eyes became visible.

"Ralph!" Joe exclaimed, rushing up to his pokémon and hugging him tight. Ralph squirmed in surprise, not to comfortable with being hugged like this. "Thank god you're ok. That was a close one, wasn't it? Just be careful when wandering around by yourself, ok." Ralph grunted, gasping for air as his chest was crushed by Joe's grip. Joe realised his discomfort and let him go again. "Oh, of course. Sorry." He muttered, awkwardly. Ralph coughed and propelled himself backwards slightly. He smiled at Joe kindly before hugging him himself with hit large front wings. Joe seemed a little surprised. "Ok, hugging. Great." He laughed. Ralph laughed too. Suddenly he heard chopper shouting from besides the black van only a few metres away. He held something rectangular and shiny in his hand. Rocky walked up and looked at the object.

"What's that, Chopper?" He asked, taking the device from his Pokémon's grip and looking at it himself. He tapped the screen and a few seconds later he looked back up. "Uh, Joe. You might want to see this." He called. Joe pushed Ralph back of him again, looking at Rocky then at the device.

"What is it?" He asked. Rocky didn't say.

"You'll just want to see it." He repeated. Joe gave a sighing shrug and took the device. He tapped it himself and the screen turned on, showing the logo of team rocket, the large red R on a black background. A small growl emanated from his gritted jaw.

"Rocket." He muttered. "What are they doing working with street thugs?" The screen suddenly flickered as signal was found. It began to bleep for a couple of seconds before finally stopping and a face appeared on the screen. It was the face of a team rocket commander.

"Hello?" Commander Wharton's voice warped and distorted as the signal figured itself out. "He… O? Is… you, Günter? Did y… s…cure the spe…imens?" He asked. He clearly couldn't see Joe on the other ends. Joe raised the pad closer to his mouth so his voice would come in clearer.

"Hello commander." He whispered down the microphone in a sinister threat. The commanded paused for a second before holding his ear closer.

"Who is thi…?" He asked.

"It's me commanded. Joe. Your thugs are beaten and your 'specimens' are released. Give up!" The commanded leaned back, a surprised expression crossing his face.

"Oh my …! Are you that kid who's been me…dling with our w…rk?" He asked a slight level of fear in his voice now.

"Yes, Commander. It's me. I'm still around, no matter how hard your leader tries I'm never going to give up. I'm coming for you next and when I get hold of either of you it'll be your end." The commander was silent for several seconds before plucking his moustache with a finger.

"Oh bloody bu…ering hell!" He exclaimed. Joe began to turn a little more vicious now.

"Now I'm going to say this once. No matter what you plan, no matter where you go, I find that you're stealing any more pokémon or hearting any more people then I will not show mercy. I will hunt you down, I will find you… and I will stop you!" The commander ended the call. Joe growled and threw the device on the ground, crushing it under his foot. Small sparks flew from the sides as the hardware inside shattered under the strength of his leg. Rocky sighed next to him.

"Shouldn't have done that." He muttered, sadly. "We could have traced their call. Joe's face turned to acknowledging embarrassment.

"Ah." He agreed. "Oh well. Too late now. We'll just have to find out elsewhere." Rocky and Chopper nodded sadly.

"So what now?" Winter asked.

"Now you go after them." Sabrina told them. She and Alakazam had teleported to the fight as it began to help out, beating Winter and Rocky by minutes. "Someone needs to stop them and you three seem to have the upper hand."

"What about the pokémon in the boxes?" Joe asked.

"We'll sort that out." Sabrina explained, looking to Don who stood beside her, looming over her. "We'll make sure they're given back to their trainers or released back into their homes."

"I'll take this lot down to the station." Don added, glancing back at the pile of thugs lying unconscious on the wet ground. "Can't have trash lying around after all." He joked. "Also go ahead and keep hitmonlee with you. You'll need him more than I ever will. Besides I think he's quite warmed up to you." Don smiled at Joe. Carter ran up besides Joe and put an arm around his shoulder, friendly. Joe chuckled and nodded.

"Will do. I think he'll be a great addition to our group." He told the fighter. Carter punched the air, gratefully and Don chuckled.

"You should take on Blaine over on Cinnabar Island before you go looking for Team Rocket again." Sabrina added suddenly. "If you beat him you'll probably be ready to take on their leader again."

"We don't know how to get to Cinnabar Island from here." Winter added, speaking for the group. "Besides walking there will take a couple of days. We may not have that long." Sabrina smiled at her, pushing all negative thoughts from the group's minds.

"I'll get you there in seconds. Or rather Alakazam will." She nudged the psychic pokémon forwards. "He can teleport you there." She spoke now to the large yellow humanoid figure. "Ali, take these children to Cinnabar Island. Surely you can manage that?" She instructed. The alakazam stepped up, nodding, giving a slightly annoyed, elderly sigh. _Alright, but don't call me Shirley… or Ali._ He groaned back, using his psychic link. He stepped between the three trainers who quickly withdrew all their pokémon (Except Ralph of course). They waved farewell to the two leaders.

"Thanks' for the help." Joe called.

"It's nothing." Don called back.

"Yeah, nothing." Sabrina joined in. Unaware to the three of them however one of the crates lying just outside of the van began to split as something broke out. The side split open quietly and out walked a very upset, very annoyed looking ditto holding a wood saw. Frank gulped in a heavy breath of air, stepped out into the daylight and stretched his body before throwing the saw away and waddling off. Unluckily for him he was caught up in what happened next. "Oh, by the way." Sabrina remembered suddenly. "If you get to Cinnabar Island there's a scientist there with a pokémon you may want to get a hold of. He's called…" But she couldn't say any more as suddenly she, Don and the alleyway disappeared into nothingness as the group were teleported away. Sabrina and Don were left staring at empty air where the trainers had stood. "Oh." She sighed, a little deflated. "Never mind."

There was a blur of nausea, a blast of numbness, a ripple of screaming noise and suddenly the world reformed into its normal shape again. All three trainers dropped to the floor, shaking and retching. It hadn't been as bad for Joe as it was for the other three who were basically holding themselves up with their arms as they coughed and spluttered their stomachs and brains still turning and churning about. Ralph nearly fell out of the air before Joe caught him and helped him stay up. Only now did they begin to look around at their surroundings. They were standing – or kneeling – on a beach by the sea, the ocean spreading out before them and a small cliff sitting behind them. Along the latter part of the cliff was a small road leading up to a nearby city. A pokémon centre was just visible poking its head out from the distance. The sun was lower down now, creating green and light orange light which reflected on the quiet waves, turning them a crystal red.

"Where are we?" Winter asked, standing up properly again, wiping sand of her bare knees. The sea air was blowing through her orange hair, flicking it back and causing it to ripple slowly like a waterfall. Alakazam reappeared beside them now.

_"__You're on Fuchsia Beach."_ He explained, his voice echoing in all four minds around him. All four minds shouted back in unison.

"Fuchsia!" All three trainers and crobat glared at him, a little annoyed by his major miscalculation. Alakazam hardly looked like he cared. In fact he was showing no emotion at all, which was normal.

_"__What? You think I'm taking all four of you to Fuchsia tonight? It's exhausting just getting you half way. Besides all you need to do now is swim there. I assume you can swim?"_ He asked, almost sounding sarcastic. Winter kicked the sand in front of her.

"If you'd taken us to Cinnabar like we asked we wouldn't need to swim. How do you expect us to get there tonight?" She demanded. Alakazam shrugged.

_"__Sorry, not my problem. If you really can't make the journey tonight you could always rest at the pokémon centre over there." _He gestured to the centre in the distance. _"Cinnabar Island is only a few miles south west from here. You have water pokémon so use them, so long as they can carry you. Well good luck." _And without another word Alakazam disappeared in a puff of psychic energy and the group were left standing on the beach, furious and exhausted.

"What should we do now?" Rocky asked. "Should we try swimming there tonight?" Winter shook her head.

"No. The tide will come in soon. It can be dangerous travelling over sea by night, especially this one. We'll rest up at the centre." She explained. There was no argument from the others. After a couple of yawns from the group they set of up the hill towards the pokémon centre. Behind them something struggled in the sand only a few feet away from where they had been. The ground rippled and out dug an even more unhappy looking Frank who had somehow arrived underground as he was teleported. He sighed, muttered something about morons and toddled off in the direction of the nearest telephone... which happened to be at the Pokemon centre.

Meanwhile, hiding in the undergrowth, watching the group from the distance were two pairs of eyes keenly spying them. The brown human eyes blinked and muttered to itself while the yellow Golbat eyes rolled, sarcastically. The human looked at his companion who looked back, both thinking the same thing as the other.

"Only three days left." They muttered.


	28. Chapter 28: Cinnabar Mansion

Almost 24 hours after they left the trio returned to Fuchsia city's pokémon centre. When they had left before they were heading to fight Team Rocket. Now that they were pack they were preparing to fight Team Rocket again, except this time they needed a rest. It had felt like they had made a complete triangle from Fuchsia through Pallet, over to Saffron and then back down again the Fuchsia. In fact the last time Joe had been in the building he'd had a bandage wrapped around his ankle and he'd been limping. He'd completely forget about that since and he hadn't even noticed the pain stopping and the bandage slipping off. The four of them stepped through the door and inside the pale white walled room. Immediately the nurse sat up, having almost fallen asleep at her desk, and rushed up to the trainers.

"Oh, you three are back?" She called, surprised but still happy to see they were ok. "How are you?"

"Been better." Joe admitted. "We just need to rest up for the night. We're supposed to be heading to Fuchsia in the morning." The nurse walked back to her desk.

"Ah. Well the rest rooms are just down the hall as you know. There's a couple of other trainers resting here tonight so just be careful not to disturb them. They've had a bit of a tough day against the gym leader." The group shrugged, found themselves a room with a couple of beds and instantly fell asleep.

A few minutes later another trainer turned up, wearing a red and black bodysuit uniform and covered from head to toe in sand. The nurse took one look at him and immediately grabbed a nearby towel.

"Oh, what happened to you?" She asked, rushing up and attempting to wipe the sand particles off.

"Get off." Frank snapped, swatting the towel away. "I'm fine. I just need to use your phone." The nurse nodded.

"Certainly. The PC over there has one attacked to it that you can use." Frank stopped walking.

"Ah, I'm not exactly a trainer. I don't have a PC login." He admitted. The nurse didn't seem too worried about this.

"No problem. You can still use the phone so long as you know the recipients number." She explained. Frank realised, giving a slow understanding nod. He quickly waddled over to the PC and picked up the small white receiver, dialling in a selection of numbers and finishing with the large green button. The screen bleeped and suddenly Ruby's face appeared on it, looking frustrated and befuddled.

"Frank!" She shouted. "Where the bloody hell are you?" She demanded. Frank sighed.

"It's a long story."

The next morning the group got up and continued on their way. The time had just gone 6:23 on Joe's poketch when they steeped through the glass doors again and onto the soft stone road to the beach. Behind them they could hear the nurse calling farewell.

"We hope to see you again soon!" She called as the glass doors slid closed. Joe thought about that phrase for a second.

"Why do they say 'we hope to see you again'?" He wondered to himself. "That implied they wanted you to get hurt more often. A more appropriate goodbye would be something like 'Take good care of your team' or 'Be careful in the tall grass' not 'Go hurt yourself some more then come back.' It just seems so strange." Quickly that thought left his mind as the three of them reached the beach and readied to leave for Cinnabar Island. The waves were lapping quietly at the sand as the morning sun created a beautiful orange ocean over the water. In the distance they could see vast sea stretching out for miles and somewhere to the south west was Cinnabar Island, the only city in Kanto to be built on volcanic land. Joe yawned and stretched his arms out.

"Shall we get going then?" He asked.

"Just give us a second. I need to sort out our pokémon." Winter told him. Currently she was kneeling down sorting out her bag and finding all her pokémon balls. She released each of her water types, Staryu, Stream the poliwrath and River the horsea onto the sand and stood between each of them. "Rocky doesn't have a water type so we need to sort something out for him." She explained. Rocky shook his hands.

"I don't need to worry about that. Gargoyle can fly me over there." He told her quickly, not wanting to cause a fuss.

"He doesn't know where Cinnabar Island is." Winter told him. "He'll get lost if he flies on his own. It's safer if we swim there in a group." She looked down at her poliwrath. "Stream, you carry Rocky, ok." Stream nodded and knelt forwards, waving Rocky to grab onto his shoulders. Rocky did so, stepping rather unsurely onto his back and grabbing hold of his waist to keep him positioned. Winter patted Stream's flat head and stepped back to Staryu and River. "Alright, Staryu you're with me obviously. River I want you to keep an eye on Joe and Vaporeon, make sure they don't get lost or sink or anything else like." She instructed. The small, blue seahorse pokémon nodded obediently and dragged itself with its curling tail along the sand to besides Joe who had just released Nami. Nami watched as the much smaller water type pokémon struggled across the beach and she found herself giggling. Joe knelt down beside her and stroked under her chin, to which she gave a catlike purr, her adoring face smiling lovingly back into his.

"Are you OK to carry me that far?" He asked. Nami shrugged. She was unsure if she could take his weight but she was going to try anyway. If they were every going to make it to Cinnabar Island she'd have to. Joe smiled and patted her head. "Good girl." He smiled and stood up again, dusting sand of his knees. Ralph watched him calmly, not at all upset for not being asked to fly him there. Joe saw his narrowed eyed expression and chuckled at his friend. "Oh, Sorry. I didn't as you if you wanted to swim us there, did I?" He joked sarcastically. Ralph rolled his eyes. Sarcasm was something he didn't really enjoy people using. He felt it was something only he actually could use correctly. Joe laughed again. "I won't leave you behind. You can just fly alongside us." Ralph shrugged. He didn't even plan to stay behind. Like that was ever going to happen. He shot forwards and hovered over the opaque blue water, folding his wings over his front and waiting patiently for the others to catch up. Joe sighed. "Alright then. I'll hurry up." He turned to the other two trainers. "Come on. We'd better go now." He stepped into the water. Despite the current weather being quite warm and the sun striking it at full heat, the water was freezing cold to touch. Joe shivered as he stepped in, having removed his shoes and put them in his bag so they didn't get wet. The small, frontal waves lapped at his dry feet, tickling them and sending cold shivers up his leg and spine. "It's quite cold." He called back to his friends as he took another couple of steps in. the water now half way up his lower leg.

"Keep going out." Winter called back to him, taking her own shoes of and walking with Staryu out into the ocean. Rocky followed a little further back, still unsure about the idea of swimming in a freezing cold ocean. The water was now at Joe's knees. He rolled up his trouser legs to just above his kneecap but the water still managed to soak them through somehow. Nami swam up beside him, enjoying the calming, cold was of waves against her waterproof blue skin. She didn't even need to try swimming, splashing her long, finned tail every now and then to propel her and steer her forwards. She rolled over onto her back, leaving her stomach poking upwards and her four small legs waiving in the air. She looked up at Joe and giggled again. Joe plashed her with a hand and she rolled back over. He heard a rushing torrent of water behind him and he saw Staryu steaming forwards caring Winter on its shoulders. As winter passes she waved, a cheerful smirk on her face. Joe rolled his eyes and took up position riding on Nami's back. Like Ralph, at first she struggled to hold his weight but quickly she got used to it, gathering speed as she propelled them along. Rocky was a couple of metres away from them still as he was struggling to hold on to Stream who was swimming so fast that Rocky was hanging off the back with his full lower body in the water. Eventually he did manage to catch up with them but he looked very unpleased about it. Ralph meanwhile was speeding ahead. He didn't have to carry any of them so he could go as far as he liked as fast as he liked. Ahead he could see Open Ocean and eventually he saw the silhouette of a large island with a volcano sitting at its centre. Around the volcano he could make out many buildings, both tall and small dotted around the island. He smiled to himself. That must be Cinnabar Island. Quickly he turned around and flew back to the group. When he found them again they had only travelled a mile further. How were they so slow? He darted his eyes and pointed a wing quickly to the direction he had just flown back from.

"Is the island over there?" Joe asked, seeing his Pokémon's erratic movements. Ralph nodded and shot off again, heading back out to sea. Joe waved a hand back to his friends for them to follow him. Winter and Staryu had fallen back to give Rocky a hand. It turned out that Stream couldn't take his weight and River wasn't strong enough to pull him herself. Now they were catching up again, both of them holding on to both Stream and Staryu while also gripping each other. Several minutes passed and the group were quickly traversing the wavy waters, slowing down slightly to enjoy their surroundings. Ralph had slowed down and was flying just besides Joe who was lying back and relaxing as Nami swam them on. The sun had risen higher now, turning the sky a brilliant bright clean blue as its flashing yellow light illuminated the world. There were no clouds out; meaning the pure blueness above was fully visible as Joe lay on his back looking up at it. A song snuck into his head. A song he hadn't heard in a long time. He found that he was humming it as he looked up into the deep blue. _Mr Blue Sky... Please tell us why… you had to hide away for sooooo long… Where did we go wrong?_ He stopped and glanced down to see Ralph and Nami chuckling at him, enjoying his attempt at creating music. "What?" He asked, not realising they had heard his humming. The two of the turned back around, still smiling to themselves. Joe shrugged and lay back down again. Half an hour later and Cinnabar island finally came into view. A few hours after that and they had finally reached the volcanic island's end and made their way back onto slightly drier land. Joe slid off Nami's shoulders and stepped into the much warmer southern ocean and walked his way up the beach, Nami and Ralph following behind him and Rocky, Winter, Staryu and Stream followed up after them. Soon they were all back on the warm sandy beach just outside Cinnabar City. Around them the buildings where huge, but that was nothing compared to how big its volcano was. The huge wart of rock and lava stood almost as tall as the clouds and basically took up the entire island with its huge tree like trunk. It sat covering the entire northern side of the island, leaving all the building on the southern side, dotted around its edge like plant seeds. Joe put his sneaker shoes back onto his dried feet and walked up the beach. The bottom of his trouser legs were soaked through completely as he rolled them back down. Rocky didn't look to much better. His entire lower body and stomach was wet through as he'd been dragged along by stream. Winter however seemed relatively dry. This was probable because she was wearing a sleeveless shirt and shorts, meaning her clothing didn't gather much water in it. It made sense with her being a water trainer and all. Quickly all three trainers withdrew their pokémon, leaving only Ralph left, flying next to them as they walked up the beach. As the trio walked back up dry land they examined the city. There were small stone houses with tiled roofs, science buildings with large thick glass windows, tall office like apartments with thick concrete walls… and in one corner of the city a large mansion was on fire. Smoke was not just wafting out of the chimney; it was also coming from the cracked windows, cracks in the stone and even from the heavy wood doorway.

"What the bloody hell?!" Winter exclaimed upon seeing the state of the large, expensive looking building. "It's on fire! Why is no one trying to put it out?" She questioned. As they looked around it was in fact true that no one was trying to stop the flames. They all just kept walking, not even paying any attention towards it, like it was almost normal.

"Should we try and put it out ourselves?" Rocky asked, a hint of unsurity in his voice. Joe lightly shook his head.

"We should ask someone first, I think, Just in case." He decided. Quickly he stopped an elderly looking business man passing by and asked. "Why is no one putting out that fire?" He asked. The man looked to the burning mansion then back to the three children.

"Oh, Cinnabar mansion is always on fire. That's just the way it's built. It's located on a heat vent from the volcano or something like that. No need to worry about it. All other buildings are just to fare away to catch fire from it. Blaine usually trains in there." He explained. He looked Joe up and down. "You must be new here. Blaine's the gym leader here. If you were thinking of fighting the gym you'll probably find him training in there. Wild pokémon live there though so you should probably be careful. " And he walked away, continuing on to where he had been heading.

"I'm still going to call that a safety hazard." Rocky added, pointing at the large stone manor house, still a little surprised by the relaxed reactions of the people passing. "Even if it's meant to be normal."

"Maybe we should check it out. If the gym leader goes there occasionally we may bump into him. Even if we don't it'll give me a chance to train Nami and Ralph and the others up a bit more." Joe told them. There was no argument in the decision. The gym itself didn't look open currently. Quickly but without haste they headed for the large old mansion.

The wooden doors creaked slowly open as wood shards and plaster cracked and broke of the hinges, alarming them for a few seconds that the door would fall over. Luckily it didn't. The group of trainers walked inside and were instantly hit by the amount of heat resonating from the place. The building wasn't just on fire; it felt more like it was the fire. Surprisingly though there were no actual signs of there being any combustion throughout the entire building but it was clear that there had been at some point because many of the walls had charred white crumpling wallpaper hanging of them and the floor was littered with burned up rugs and flooring. They were standing in a long hallway at the front of the house which seemed to stretch all the way down it, touching the end wall which led apparently into a kitchen. Most of the house was stationed on the right side of the hall while the left had a huge flight of stairs leading upwards. The room further down the right seemed to lead into a dining room of some kind. Joe had released all his pokémon to let them walk about and train if they need to. The three humans of them looked around and whistled at the giant yet completely ruined spectacle.

"This is one big house." Joe thought aloud. The others nodded in agreement.

"Swelteringly hot." Rocky added.

"I wander how old it all is?" Winter added, taking a step further and looking at all the small details and burned up photo frames.

"I'm just wandering how it's still standing." Rocky interrupted. To be fare it was quite amazing that something this smouldered could keep standing. Joe tapped a foot on the black marble floor.

"Now what?" He asked. No one answered him. They all seemed to be thinking. Even Ralph just shrugged unsurely. Suddenly he stopped, glancing quickly to the stairway ahead of them as if he'd seen a ghost. Joe followed his gaze. "Ralph, what is it?" He asked. Then he too froze. Something had darted across the railing and disappeared into a shadow. Something long, thin and purple. "Wha…?" He exclaimed quietly, squinting his eyes and looking again. This time he saw nothing. Whatever it was had gone. Winter and Rocky looked at him staring at the stairwell.

"What's wrong?" Winter asked him, looking for what he had seen. Joe turned to her, pulling his eyes away.

"Uh, nothing, don't worry." He lied. "I just thought I'd… Ralph where are you going?" He snapped as Ralph suddenly sped off along the corridor and up the stairs. He grunted back to Joe for him to follow as he flew straight up and disappeared behind the wall. Joe sighed. "God I hate when he does this." He exclaimed and stomped after him. Winter and Rocky shared confused glances before followed after him. Ralph sped up, gliding over the solid stone steps and around the corner and down another, much smaller corridor. At the end, turning through a thin doorway, was a long, thick purple tail. As Ralph turned the corner he saw the tip of the tail disappear through the doorway and he followed after it. Joe reached the top step, skidded to a turn and sped after his friend who himself was now turning the corridor. Winter and Rocky were close behind him, thinking they had been dragged into yet another chase. Down another corridor they ran, chasing after Ralph who was chasing after something else. He could see its back but not its face. Whatever it was it was long and snake like. He stopped as he turned another corner, suddenly realising how stupid he had been. He was chasing a large purple snake like pokémon. Who did he know with a pokémon like that? He looked ahead of him. The pokémon had completely disappeared now. The only thing left to show it was its head poking around from the end of the hall, a small hissing laugh drifting from its fanged jaw. Then it was gone again, turning its hooded head around and slithering down the next corridor. Running footsteps got closer and closer from behind. Ralph turned to see Joe, Winter and Rocky running towards him and Pippy, Nami, Cinders, Carter and Pitt running behind and between them, struggling to keep up. "Ralph, there you are! Where are you going?" Joe called. Suddenly the floor began to creak underneath their complete weight. Joe stopped suddenly as the weak wooden planks under his feet began to creak and slowly snap. Behind Joe Winter, Pippy, Nami and Carter had skidded to a halt nearly crashing into him. Pitt, Cinders and Rocky meanwhile had stopped at the doorframe, seeing the ground begin to snap and holding back. Joe looked saw small holes beginning to break into the wood. Ralph, seeing the imminent danger, did the only thing he could do. He flew forwards and grabbed Joe, wrapping both pairs of wings around his body and shielding him. At that very second the floor gave way. There was a snapping of wood and suddenly they were falling through the air, smoke whipping past their heads. Joe yelled in surprise, shutting his eyes and wrapping his arms around Ralph's body securely, doing anything to stop himself falling faster or anything he believed would cause less pain upon impact. Ralph kept his grip, shutting his own eyes as well, doing his best to protect his friend from the fall, then, quite suddenly, they stopped. There was a heavy, painful thud of flesh on stone as they hit the ground two stories down. Joe yelled in pain and Ralph winced having landed on his wing and bruised it badly. Next to them something else thudded onto the floor and let out a small painful yelp. Joe flicked an eye open to see Nami lying curled on the ground having fallen from above as well. She was in a bad way. Her leg looked twisted and she had bruises running down the side of her body. When she tried to stand up she buckled over and fell flat on her face. "Nami." He gasped. He did his best to quickly push himself up but found his legs weren't ready to take his weight again. Instead he crawled over to his pokémon and hugged her, helping to hold her up. She curled her front paw back limply, holding it in the air like a dog with a wounded paw. She whined at it and hopped back slightly as Joe lightly gripped her leg and held it up for him to see. "I think you'll be ok." He told her, still concerned but less so now. "It doesn't look broken; only twisted." He heard someone calling down to him from above.

"Joe!" Winter screamed, her voice echoing of the stone. Joe looked up. Winter was currently hanging over the edge of the now broken wooden flooring, her arms dangling down and her leg being held by a thin yet strong dark brown arm. Carter had jumped over and grabbed her leg while Pitt grabbed his legs using his vines while cinders was pulling ham back with his own small arms grabbing Pitt's large fat back legs and stopping him being pulled over, too… and the three of them were left dangling there over the edge like a make shift ladder. Joe watched the spectacle both surprised but also proud of his Pokémon's quick reactions. Winter was screaming at him now, clearly much less amazed at their skill then he was. "Joe, for god's sake tell them to pull me up!" She wailed, swinging her arms around. Joe chuckled slightly. "This is not funny!" Winter continued, seeing his smile. "Just get me down from up here!" Joe waived a hand.

"Carter, pull her up." He instructed simple. Carter nodded and began to retract his legs back as Pitt pulled him in. Pippy sat on Cinder's wing shoulder, watching carefully as they were quickly pulling her back in. Suddenly one of the pokéballs around Winter's belt slipped and fell of its hook.

"No, no, no!" She yelled, lunging out and just missing the ball. As she lunged out however she pulled Carters grip and his hands slipped from around her leg, causing her to fall down as well. She screamed and plummeted towards the solid stone ground, waving her arms like windmills. Pitt, in surprise, released his grip around Carters lags and Carter jumped after her, readying to not only grab her but also land safely. Joe jumped into immediate action, holding out his arms and standing underneath her, ready to catch her.

"I got you!" He called up. Suddenly he hit the ground as Winter landed on him and knocked him over. Both trainers lay sprawled on top of each other, Winter lying on her front across Joe and Joe lying on his back with Winter winded on top of him. The two of them lay groaning there for a few seconds before even trying to get back up. Carter landed safely on both feet, hardly affected by the drop at all. Ralph too was getting back up, his wing now working again but still hurting. Joe coughed as stone dust which had been flicked up from their fall caught in his lungs. Winter shook her head awake again and for a few seconds both their eyes met. Both trainers quickly looked away, flushing pink with embarrassment. "Ouch." Joe muttered. "Your elbow's sticking into my rib." Winter turned her head, turning even redder.

"Sorry." She muttered quietly, quickly moving her arm of his chest and pushing herself of and to the side where she rolled onto her back.

"Let's not do that again." Joe decided, out of breath. Winter nodded in agreement. Carter's head popped into view in front of then, Leaning forwards and looking down at theme, a raised skin covered brown over one eye. Ralph and Nami appeared beside him, the same expressions on their faces. Joe and Winter both laughed, sheepishly. "Why don't you give us a hand up?" He suggested. The three pokémon looked to each other and Carter leaned forwards further, extending his arms out and taking the two trainers by the hand and helping them back to their feet. Quickly the stood up, wiped the dust from their bodies. Winter quickly grabbed the pokéball and clipped it back to her belt. Together they all looked up through the hole they had fallen down. The floor they had been standing on had split from underneath, leaving a huge, jaw like gaping open space in which to fall through. Rocky, Cinders, Pitt and Pippy were leaning over the edge looking down at them.

"Are you ok?" Rocky called. Joe nodded.

"Yeah, we'll be fine. Just a little bruised, that's all." He turned to see both Winter and Nami looking angrily at him, both with bruised arms.

"Yeah, a little bruised!" Winter sarcastically agreed. Joe turned quickly back up to Rocky.

"Shall we climb down to you?" Rocky asked.

"No. Stay there. We'll find a way back up to you." Joe called back. Rocky stood straight again.

"Ok. I'll bring the rest of your team with me. Just stay where you are." And then he and the others were gone, heading for the stairway. Joe looked back at Winter, Ralph, Nami and Carter who were waiting patiently behind him, arms folded. Only now had he actually started looking at the room he had fallen into. It looked to be an old, stone basement of some kind with melted away candles and soot covered walls. The room above him seemed to be the kitchen with shattered black and white tiles hanging of the edge. He looked back down again. There was a small doorway to the far side of the room leading further into the underneath of the mansion.

"Well, I guess that's where we're going." Joe decided and headed off through the doorway. Winter quite reluctantly held back. The pathway through it looked quite dark.

"Uh, I think I'll wait here. You go on ahead." She stuttered, her voice not much more than a whisper. Joe turned back to her.

"We need to find a way out of here. Don't you want to get outside?" He asked. Winter shrugged backwards.

"I… I do, It's just… It's quite… dark… down there." She stuttered, pointing into the shadowy thin hallway on the other side of the entrance. Joe glanced in then back at her, sighing with mild irritation.

"If you stay here you'll be left alone, and it's eventually going to get dark in here, too…" He didn't need to say anymore to her. The second he finished winter sped past him, through the doorway and down the dark hall, calling back to him.

"Well come on. Hurry up. We haven't got all day. Let's go before it gets darker." Joe smiled and saw that his pokémon were looking at him with pleasantly surprised expressions. He shrugged, overconfidently.

"Well that did the job." He chuckled and followed after her.

Down the darkened pathway they walked, torchlight passing around the walls and floors which caved around them like the throat of a great beast. Joe and Winter had had to resort to walking in single file in order to keep moving, Joe leading with his head torch on full blast and winter following close behind him with her small hand torch waving around and illuminating the walls. Ralph, Carter and Nami were close behind her. Ralph had taken up position in the back in case something should try to sneak up on them. Carter walked just in front of him. Nami meanwhile was struggling to keep up with the others, her injured paw holding her back and leaving her limping along. Carter, seeing that they were falling behind, did a kind thing for his new team and helped her out. He wrapped his thin but strong arms around her belly and lifted her up into his arms, carrying her like a cradling puppy. For a second she didn't have a clue what was going on but quickly she relaxed as Carter carried her quickly, safely down the hallway. After a few minutes or so they could see light at the end of the path and finally they reached a larger, red bricked hallway with several doors leading to a couple of large rooms. On the walls were a couple of low light candles which only just illuminated the room in its darkness, creating creepy red light. Joe could hear Winter shaking slightly behind him.

"I think I preferred pitch black to red lighting." She muttered. Joe held his ground and walked on.

"It's probably not that bad." He encouraged her. As he said it there was a light clatter as some brick mortar fell off the wall and tapped onto the floor. Winter jumped and let out a sudden, quiet squeak, jumping backwards and grabbing Joe's shoulders to protect herself. He shrugged her away and laughed. "It's ok. It's just brick dust. Nothing to worry about." Winter sighed in relief, wiping her forehead.

"Let's hope that's all there is." She added subtly. Joe looked back at his pokémon who were standing still in the dark corridor, waiting for them to continue onwards. He stepped into the large hallway. To his right was a large room but the door was on the opposite side of the hall. At the furthest end the corridor turned, leading into yet another area. This new area had three rooms, one on the left, one on the right and another at the far end. As they travelled down the hall they found they could hear voices. Someone was shouting at someone else, seemingly threatening them about something. Joe stopped and crouched down out of sight. The others stopped behind him. He cocked a hand to his ear and listened out.

"Do you hear that?" He whispered back. Winter too held out her ear and listened carefully. She too could hear what he had. There was someone on the other side of the wall speaking to someone else. They snuck closer to the doorway and placed their ears to the wall.

"Fighting against me will do you no good. Tell me what it is you know of the three legendary bird pokémon and I'll let you go." A strong yet weasely British voice could be heard faintly coming through from inside. Another voice laughed back, sounding slightly exhausted.

"Oh please. Don't think I don't know who you are. Like I'd tell you where to find pokémon as rear and extra ordinary as them. Not on your life." There was a thud of fist on flesh and the second voice winced in pain. The group snuck closer to the door.

"Come now, Mr Bill. Just tell me where Articuno, Moltres and Zaptos are and I'll stop hurting you. If you don't then I won't hold back from beating you to within an inch of your life." The weasely voice persuaded. There was the sound of spitting.

"Sorry, Commander. You're out of luck." The second voice retorted. There was the sound of more punching. Slowly, cautiously Joe and Winter peered around the doorway. The inside of the room was almost completely empty with the same red brick walls and smooth red stone floor. At the furthest wall a couple of men in black suits and hats stood standing around and over a young looking man with short brown hair and a smart blue shirt, tie and trousers. His face was slightly bloody and bruised from where he'd been punched. He was also tied down to a tough metal chair with thick steel chains lashed around his arms and legs. In front of him stood a third figure, a tall Asian man wearing a white version of the black suits the grunts were wearing. It didn't take a genius to know who they were and neither Joe nor winter were such.

"Team Rocket." Joe muttered, leaning back against the wall and turning his head from the room. "You know just one… just one I would like to go somewhere and NOT run into them! Especially that commander Cheng" He ranted, raising his voice slightly. Winter quickly shushed him.

"Shhh! don't shout or they'll hear you!" She snapped.

"Don't you find it annoying?" Joe argued back. Winter shrugged.

"I do but we can't do anything if we're caught as well. Just stay quiet and maybe we'll get a chance to act when they're not looking." Joe took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down.

"Alright but we're not letting them get away. The second we get the chance we take them out. All of them." He demanded. Winter nodded in agreement. They listened to the conversation again. Now it sounded like the commander was getting desperate.

"Just tell me!" He shouted, causing the room to shake. "Tell me what you know or I will make your life more painful than it already is!" The tied up figure didn't respond. He simply looked away. Cheng waived his arms in fury and turned away, bringing his fisted hands back to his side.

"Guard him. I'll be back in a few minutes." He instructed his grunts. Joe and Winter quickly moved away from the door and hid beside it as the commander walked out and headed down the corridor away from them, not noticing them at all. They sighed quietly and whipped their brows.

"Ok, now we act." Joe decided. He nodded to Carter who nodded in return. He put Nami back onto the floor and walked past his trainer and into the room. Immediately after there was the sound of thudding, smacking and the surprised and pain filled cries of the two grunts as they were smacked about. After a few seconds Joe looked around the corner to see two battered and unconscious grunts with Carter standing on top of them. Behind him sat a very stunned yet very pleased to see them man. He began to struggle upon seeing Joe and Winter turn the corner.

"Oh thank god. I'm saved." He cheered loudly in a simply, slightly western American accent. Imeediately he was shushed by the two trainers.

"Be quiet. He could be back at any minute." The man shrunk back, embarrassed.

"Right. Sorry." He whispered thankfully. Joe joined Carter and pointed down at the chains.

"Carter, help me free him." He instructed. As it turned out Carter didn't even need to try. He simply tapped the chains with the side of his palm and it shattered into pieces, breaking away from the man's arms and legs and freeing him. He stood up quickly and shook Joe by the hand.

"Thank you." He cheered, still doing so quietly. "Thank both of you. I don't know what he would have done to me if you hadn't come along."

"What did he want from you?" Joe asked. "We heard him saying something about legendary birds."

"Yes, the Three legendary bird pokémon, Articuno, Moltres and Zaptos. From what I understand his leader wants their power for his own. He didn't say why but it can't be anything good." The man explained.

"Who are you?" Winter asked, trying to be friendly. The man stiffened his back and stood up properly.

"My name's Bill." The man told them. "I'm a bit of a true blue pokémaniac as I like to call myself. I know a lot about many different pokémon, especially the more rare or unusual species."

"That would be why Team Rocket is interested in you then." Joe added for him. Bill nodded. "Well I'm Joe and my friend is Winter." Joe introduced to him, pointing from himself to winter. "And my pokémon with me right now are Ralph, Carter and Nami." He then pointed to each pokémon respectively. Bill stood still, his eyes stopping on the injured vaporeon. Suddenly he rushed up to her and began examining her. He lifted her head up and looked at her neck fins.

"You have an Eeveelution! How amazing!" He spoke quickly. "Where did you get her? How old is she? Hmm, she looks very healthy for her size. Her fins seem the right length. Nice skin complexion. Strong tail. Healthy looking teeth. Great eye colour." Nami seemed to panic slightly, trying to move back but he had her gripped by the neck. He inspected her thoroughly, seemingly intrigued by her complexions. Joe and the rest of them just looked at him, not only surprised but also really confused and a little freaked out. After a few more seconds he let go and stood back up, facing Joe, a big smile on his face. "You have a very healthy Vaporeon here." He said finally. Joe's expression didn't change.

"Um… thank you?" He said finally; complete uncertainty flooding from his mouth. Bill nodded vigorously, his head blurring with the fast movement.

"I love the Eevee family. I love everything about them. Their DNA is so unstable it allows them to have several evolution options. In your case you chose vaporeon but there are many, many more. I find it so fascinating. Don't you agree?" He spewed the words out like bullets down a gun barrel. Joe still looked quite concerned.

"Right." He agreed finally.

"Well we'd best get out of here before the commander comes back, unless you two are happy to keep talking?" Winter interrupted quickly. Joe and Bill both shrugged simultaneously. "Then let's go already!" She exclaimed and waved them towards the door. The six characters ran out of the doorway and stood in the hall for several seconds.

"Which way now?" Bill asked. They looked around for a few seconds. Suddenly they heard footsteps approaching from the distance. The commander was coming back.

"Hide." Winter whispered quickly and all three of them turned the corner and hid behind the wall. Ralph, Nami and Carter joined them, waiting behind the brick wall for the commander to pass. The footsteps got quickly closer and closer. Unseen by the humans and their pokémon, however a figure was sneaking up behind them. It silently slithered closer, wrapped its long tail around their legs and… Joe was suddenly flung forwards by something gripping his legs. He sailed through the air out into the hallway and landed painfully on his face. His ears and eyes rang as his head hit the stone. Faintly he could hear the sound of someone shouting at him.

"Ah, what have we here?" The commander cackled. "You lot again! Why do you always keep appearing?" Joe struggled back up and suddenly saw Winter and Bill hit the ground next to him. Arbok was slithering around behind them, his tail wrapped around their legs and stopping them getting back up. Joe growled, anger returning to his voice.

"Commander. Up to more dirty tricks I see." He spat. The commander shook his head.

"My tricks are not dirty. You however are retched with muck. Continuously persisting with our plans when you have nothing to gain from our defeat."

"Except maybe the guarantee that people will be safe." Winter argued.

"Oh, I see you've freed my prisoner." He added, noticing Bill for the first time. "How annoying. Still, maybe now I have three prisoners to interrogate. Maybe you'll know something about what I'm after."

"Why do you want to know about legendary birds?" Winter demanded again. The commander tapped his nose.

"Nothing for you to concern yourself with." He cunningly told them. "I'm sure that Archer will be glad to hear of your defeat. He will be especially grateful for me doing so." Before he could do anything however Arbok was suddenly jumped upon by Carter who had leapt from the shadows and was now wrestling the long snake of the three humans. As it struggled it loosened its grip on their legs and they were freed. Joe immediately got up and readied to fight the commander, throwing a punch which Cheng only just dodged. The commander backed away.

"Guess I'm going to make it a bit tougher for you." He snarled. The commander narrowed his eyes.

"Damn. Should have seen that coming." He muttered. "Oh well. I can still take you on. Arbok, come back!" He called. Arbok backed off Carter and joined his master's side, rearing in angry defence. Cheng pulled out a second pokéball and released his second pokémon, Raticate. He smiled ominously. "Don't think for one second this will be an easy battle. I have gotten much stronger then when we last battled. This time you shall not best me." Joe didn't let this stop him. He was going to fight and he was going to win.

"We shall see." He muttered simply. Carter and Ralph stepped up to fight beside him. Joe turned back to Winter. "Go with Nami. Find a way back up and find Rocky. I'll be along in a second." Winter nodded understanding.

"Ok." She obeyed, picking up the vaporeon and running past them, heading for the end of the hall and turning the dark corner out of sight.

"Your friends won't be back in time to help you." Cheng told Joe, clenching his fists, ready for a fight. "By the time they arrive you will already be defeated." Joe readied himself. Carter and Ralph to flexed their muscles. The commanded certainly looked extremely confident about the fight.

"Like I said. We shall see." He repeated. Cheng raised his fist.

"Raticate, Hyper Fang!" He commanded. The Raticate jumped forwards, jaw snapping open and shut viciously, bloodlust streaming through its body.

"Carter, Double Kick!" Joe instructed. As Raticate came rushing in and was about to bite onto Joe's arm Carter jumped in the way and struck out with his leg, kicking it in the face and knocking it back slightly, stopping it's attack. As Raticate readied to attack again carter kicked it again, this time using his other leg and it went rolling backwards in pain. Cheng growled.

"Ok, that isn't going to work." He decided. "Bite!" He commanded suddenly. This time however he didn't command one single pokémon. Both Arbok and Raticate lunged forwards at equal speed, aiming each at Ralph and Carter.

"Dodge it!" Joe shouted, seeing the oncoming attacks. Ralph gusted backwards out of the range of Raticate. Carter however simply rolled backwards as Arbok lunged and bit the air above him. Carter returned by kicking upwards and hitting Arbok in the jaw, causing it mild pain. Raticate meanwhile was jumping up at Ralph, who was hovering above it, dodging its attempt to bite at his wings. He lashed out with a front wing and knocked it back where it looked angrily at him, feeling slightly bruised. "Air Cutter!" Joe instructed again. Ralph pulled his large wings back and released a heavy gust of cutting air which pushed Raticate and Arbok back slightly as they resisted the attack. Arbok returned the attack with spit up, stockpiling acidic saliva in its mouth and heaved it up and sending it flying towards Ralph who was busy trying to push back Raticate. The attack hit him and he dropped down to the floor, covered in slop. Raticate took the advantage and grabbed him by the wing, dragging him across the floor. Carter saw his friend in pain and jumped forwards, one leg pointed out to kick. The Raticate was struck aside and let go of its grip as Carter's jump kick hit it in the face. Arbok didn't sit still for long however as it struck out with its tail and tripped carter over, then proceeding to wrap him up tight in a coil. Crater struggled and tugged but could not break free.

"Not so strong now, are you." Cheng cackled. Arbok and Raticate joined in his laughing and its grip tightened around Carter. While they were distracted Carter took advantage. He slipped a hand free and grabbed Arbok's open laughing jaw, pulling its head down and cracking it on the red stone ground. In pain and confusion Arbok loosened its grip and Crater was free. He attacked again, jumping up, spinning in a pirouette and kicking Arbok in the side of the head, knocking it aside. Ralph too had just made a new attack, Striking Raticate in the face with an outstretched wing. The fight however was not going to well. Cheng had not been lying when he said his team was stronger. Ralph and Carter were only just able to keep them back but they were dealing a lot of damage.

"Ralph look out" Joe cried. Ralph suddenly realised that he had lost concentration. Raticate was jumping towards him, claws poised and large buckteeth sharp. Ralph tried to dodge aside but Raticate managed to scratch the side of his body underneath his wing as he passed. Ralph winced in pain and glared at the large rodent which was viciously gnawing at the air behind him. He heard a thud beside him as Carter hit the ground painfully. Arbok had flung him across the room and against the wall where he lay now, battered and winded. Ralph decided he had had enough. His brow V'd downwards and his eyes narrowed. His glare caught on Cheng who was chuckling maniacally to himself as his pokémon whipped the floor with Joe and his team. He turned and saw Joe's worried expression. He only had Ralph and Carter to fight and if they couldn't win then he was almost certainly done for. Cheng would most likely kidnap them and take them, weakened and beaten to his master where god knows what would happen next. There were more footsteps coming from the directing ahead of them now. Cheng smile grew at the sound.

"That would be the cavalry arriving." He laughed and turned, expecting to see more of his men arriving. His smile suddenly disappeared and was replaced with an angry snarl. They were not Rocket Grunts. The two humans standing behind him having just turned the corner were wearing uniforms but these were red with black gloves and boots and had photo printed cards on their torso's, one of diamonds and the other of clubs. The male trainer had spiky green hair and chocolate brown eyes while the female trainer had long curly blue hair and turquoise eyes. The third figure was a small, cowardly looking Ditto. "Who the bloody hell are you?" Commander Cheng demanded. Ruby, Ross and Frank glanced at each other.

"Who are we? Who are you?" Ruby demanded back. Cheng just stared at them, utterly befuddled.

"I'm a team rocket commander and you're trespassing on our mission. Please leave before I'm forced to destroy you too." He told them. Frank looked up at him.

"Very flash. I suppose you rehearsed that often, don't you." He sarcastically interrupted. Cheng raised an eyebrow at him.

"Team Ace? What the hell are you doing here?" Joe asked, seeing them now. All three of them looked at each other, confused.

"I don't know." Frank told him finally, actually looking honest for the first time since they'd met. Cheng let out an angry snarl.

"Are you done meeting up or can we get back to the fight now?" He demanded, throwing an angry fist to his side. He then spun around to return to the fight. As he turned his two pokéballs became visible on the side of his belt. Ralph caught site of them and an idea came into his head. Raticate came lunging for him again and he rolled aside, hitting it in the face with a wing and flew past it, aimed straight at Cheng. The sound of his flight caused Cheng to turn back to see Ralph flying towards him, wings outstretched. One wing was glistening silver. "What the…" He managed to exclaim in surprise as Ralph passed by, his steel wing striking his pokéballs on the joints. There was the sound of plastic and metal snapping. Cheng looked down to see his pokéballs dropping from the belt and to the floor. The joints were glowing bright white and soon both balls were engulfed. Chengs expression immediately became one of absolute fear. "No! NO!" He screamed as the balls glowed brighter and brighter. Suddenly the lights faded in an instant and in its place were two pokéballs cracked in half. Arbok and Raticate stopped their attacks and turned to their master - or rather their old master. Their eyes turned back from blood red to their original calm white colour. Cheng knelt down and picked up the pokéball pieces. He glared back at the crobat behind him, fear and anger flooding across his face. "What have you done?" He asked, a sinister growl in his voice. "My pokémon! You freed them! Arceus damn you!" He screamed. "Arceus damn you all!" Arbok and Raticate suddenly turned on him, slowly crawling up towards him. They were angry. Angry about how he had treated them and now they were going to get their revenge. Cheng backed up, arms out to protect himself. "Boys." He said, trying to keep them back. "Just think about this for a second. Don't hurt your old master." Arbok and Raticate weren't listening. Then edged towards him, teeth bared in anger. Joe chuckled to himself.

"Looks like your pokémon are fed up with you too, commander." He laughed. Cheng didn't even stop to glare at him. Behind him more footsteps were arriving. Cheng turned to see more people arriving now. Winter, Rocky and Bill turned the corner, followed by the rest of Joe's team. They walked past Team Ace who just looked confused. Cheng was now surrounded on all sides. He stood in the centre of a ring of angry pokémon. He sighed and tapped a weird wrist device on his arm.

"Bugger." He muttered. Then suddenly he was gone. He disappeared in a flash of light as he was teleported away. All that was left were the two broken pokéballs which lay in pieces on the floor.

A few minutes later and Joe and his friends exited the mansion. They had hardly understood anything about what happened in the mansion but they knew that Commander Cheng wasn't likely to be back any time soon. Joe had withdrawn all his pokémon, except Ralph of course. Now he, Winter, Rocky and Bill were standing in the pokémon centre resting up themselves and their team. Team Ace had disappeared as quickly as they had appeared. In fact none of them even knew how or why they were there, it seemed that even they didn't know themselves. Currently Bill was using the phone at the PC to talk with someone. When he was done he put the phone down and joined the trio again.

"I can't thank you enough for rescuing me." He told them. "If you hadn't turned up I don't know what would have happened." Joe shrugged.

"It's nothing, honestly." He admitted, sincerely. "We do this so often it's kind of like a part time job for us." Bill laughed.

"Well I feel I should repay you in some way. If you want I could offer you a ride to the Sevii islands. I was heading there myself as there was something I needed to get done. If you're interested I'm planning to leave tonight." He told them. The trio looked to each other.

"Well it's nice of you to offer…" Winter began.

"But I was hoping to take on the gym leader today. If you're going tomorrow then I imagine we can go." Joe continued. Bill nodded, understanding.

"I can do that. They don't need me over there till tomorrow anyway." Bill agreed. The three trainers nodded.

"Alright." Joe agreed. "Just give me a minute to fight the gym leader and I'll be back."

"Be careful." Bill warned. "Blaine is not just any old man. He's very strong, very smart… and he's as red hot as fire!" Joe laughed.

"I'm not afraid. Me and my pokemon can deal with him. We've got this far and even Team Rocket can't stop us." He paused. "And now I know a way to get rid of their Commanders"


	29. Chapter 29: The Fire Wielding Mastermind

An hour later Joe found himself outside yet another gym, preparing himself for whatever was to come next. Luckily for him this was the seventh gym and after there would be only one left to take on. Ralph, Winter and Rocky were by his side. Since they had missed the last two battles this time they decided they would come and watch. Now they were about to walk through the glass doors. Winter and Rocky stood behind their friend as Joe stepped forwards and the doors slid open with a quiet squeak.

"Only two left." Winter thought aloud. They were all quite surprised by how far they had come in such a short time. To think that just over a month ago or so none of them had known each other. Now they were the closest of friend.

"Well we've done well to get this far." Rocky agreed. "I imagine that Joe could win this easily, couldn't you." He added, speaking to Joe directly now. Joe looked at him and nodded, slightly nervous now that there was pressure on him but not too bad.

"I can win. I believe in Ralph and the rest of my team. They can win for me. Of course I need to make the effort myself, as well." He added. Ralph rolled his eyes but couldn't help but chuckle at his trainer's words. He as well found it tough to remember anything from before. In fact he could hardly remember a second before they met. Strange. Joe turned back around and faced the open doorway. There was a heavy amount of heat flooding out from inside which made Joe's eyes water slightly as they tried to stop his from drying up. He wiped his sweating face. "Oh well. Out of the frying pan, into the charizard's mouth." He muttered and stepped inside. Immediately he was hit by a smouldering wave of hot air. His first reaction was to shut his eyes and raise his arm up in front of his face to block the heat. His eyes watered in an attempt to cool his face down. Winter and Rocky were doing the same thing, holding their hands in front of their face to block out the sweltering heat and bright orange light. Ralph was less lucky. He didn't have arms so instead he had to use one of his larger wings to shield himself. This wasn't as effective as he had to use his other three wings to fly, leading him to occasionally tilt on the right and nearly fall over. They stood still for several seconds, struggling to even breathe with the room at its current temperature. Suddenly a loud, lively yet slightly aged voice boomed over several speakers stationed on the walls all around the room.

"OH, SORRY ABOUT THE HEAT! I TEND TO FORGET MOST PEOPLE AREN'T USED TO IT! I'LL TURN IT DOWN A LITTLE!" Suddenly the room began to cool slightly. The immense heat died away to kindling warmth and the bright orange light became a simple fiery tint. As the trainers opened their eyes again they saw the internal of the gym properly. The lighting around the pitch was quite a bit darker than in the other gym's, maybe so it would make any fire moves stand out. The battlefield itself was flat and red, with thin crevices running around the sides, filled with undying fire. The terrain on it was slightly jagged but not too bad. What really stood out were the fiery piers located at each corner of the field which illuminated the entire battlefield without the need for lighting or anything like it. On the opposite side of the field stood a tall, elderly man wearing a thin long sleeved red shirt with a blue waved pattern at the bottom edge and long thin red trousers. His skin was a darker white then most people living in Kanto but not dark enough to be tanned. He had grey hair running along the side of his head, leaving the top completely bold and shining in the light of the fires. He stood watching the three trainers from his stand, a large, greying arcanine stood beside him. It looked to be nearly as old as he was. The man raised his arms and bellowed. "Welcome trainers to the gym of fire. I am Blaine, the fire wielding mastermind and I shall be your gym leader for today." Joe and Ralph shared surprised glances. "Who of you wishes to challenge me?" Blaine asked. Joe stepped forwards and walked up to the pitch.

"I shall." He declared, though not as dramatically as Blaine had.

"We'll be watching from the seating stands." Winter whispered in his ear as she and Rocky walked past, heading for the side. They spent a couple of seconds struggling to search in the dark before finding the seats and sitting down to watch. Blaine raised his hands up higher.

"Welcome." He boomed. "Your challenge has been accepted. Now there shall be a short quiz." Joe raised an eyebrow as he walked over to his podium and was about to pull out his first pokéball.

"Quiz?" He repeated. "Why are you quizzing me?" He asked. Blaine held up a flat hand.

"Hey, I'm the one asking you the questions, not the other way round." He interrupted. Joe went quiet, deciding it was probably best to let the gym leader have his way. It was his gym after all and, as long as this lead to them having an actual pokémon battle, he was prepared to put up with whatever the senile old man decided to do. Blaine pulled out a couple of cue cards from out of his podium stand and tapped them on the wood. He cleared his throat. "Mm Hmmm! Now then. Question number one: What is your name?" He asked.

"Joe." Joe told him simply. Blaine nodded.

"Ok. Good start." He put the first cue card down. "Question number two: What is my name?" He continued. Joe just stared at him. How was that even a question? He had already told him what his name was.

"You're Blaine." He told him, sounding a little confused. Blaine nodded again.

"Right. Thank you for reminding me. Next question." He put the second cue card down. "Question number three: What type of pokémon do I use?" He asked.

"I'm guessing fire types." Joe said, making a quick assumption on both what Blaine was dressed in, the style of the gym, the pokémon beside him and also on the fact that Bill had told him he used fire types. Blaine nodded again.

"Well done, right again. You really know your people. Now final question." He put the third cue card down. "What type of pokémon will you be using?" He asked. Joe thought for a second.

"Well, actually, I'll be using several types of pokémon." He told him. Blaine shrugged.

"Really? More than one type?" He tutted. "Kids have too much imagination these days." He muttered. He put the final cue card down. "Well shall we get into battling?" He asked, a bright fiery smile on his face and in his eyes. Joe reached for a pokéball.

"I was wondering when we'd get to that." He told him. Blaine's smile grew slightly.

"Feisty. I like it. If you can bring that energy into the way you battle then this should be fun. You'd better have bur heals!" He chuckled. He reached for a pokéball. "Ok then. Let's get started, shall we." He threw out the first pokéball, releasing a lethargic yet young looking flareon. It reared up and let out a cute growl, trying to look intimidating but failing.

"Hey, a flareon. I met one of them before near Celadon." He thought, pulling out his first choice. "I choose you, Carter!" He exclaimed and sent the ball flying through the air onto the field. It opened and Carter jumped out, ready and flexing his legs. Blaine raised an eyebrow.

"A hitmonlee, eh?" he thought to himself. "Huh. I must admit I never expected you to have that." He shrugged. "Oh well. Makes it more interesting." He raised a hand and clenched it. "Now for the real questions." He announced. Joe looked confused again.

"Wait, I thought you already asked me the questions." He asked. Blaine laughed and shook his head.

"No, they were warm ups. These are the real questions." He explained. "If you get each question right you get to decide if you want to attack first or not. However if you get it wrong I make the choice. Ready?" He asked. Joe shrugged. It didn't really make sense why he was being asked questions but whatever suited him.

"Oh." He agreed. Blaine narrowed his eyebrows and grinned.

"Alright. Here is my question. What are fire types weak too?" He asked. Joe thought for a second.

"Water and rock." He answered finally. Immediately Blaine shook his head.

"Wrong. They are also weak to ground." He told him. "That's the first question wrong and I get to decide who goes first." He paused for a couple of seconds. "I shall make the first move." He decided finally. He then pointed his hand out. "Flareon, use fire spin." He commanded. Flareon took in a small breath and let out a small swirly tornado of embers which swirled towards Carter. Joe jumped into action.

"Carter, jump over it." He instructed. Carter did so, kneeling down then pushing of the ground, leaping high over the swirling fire and avoiding being trapped inside the swirling vortex. Blaine made another move.

"Overheat!" He called. Flareon began to glow red with heat and it tensed its body. As carter landed on his feet it released, sending an opaque wave of red fire out from its body and struck him, pushing him back slightly. Carter growled and rushed in to make a proper attack.

"Hi jump kick!" Joe called. Carter leapt through the air, one long, elastic leg stretched out to strike. Flareon barely had time to react before the attack hit it straight in the face. It went rolling backwards before skidding to a stop, using its clawed paws to stop itself. Carter's attack had done some real damage, more then it could have anticipated. Blaine winced upon seeing the attack hit.

"Damn." He exclaimed quietly. "Alright Flareon, use flamethrower!" He instructed. Flareon took in a heavy breath as fire filled up inside its mouth.

"Carter, use rolling kick!" Joe called. Carter ran forwards and dropped, sliding across the floor with one leg out, the other pulled in. Flareon released its attack but carter avoided it, sliding underneath its belly and kicking its legs out from underneath it. Flareon hit the ground with a light thud as Carter slid out from the other side and jumped up into the air, landing on Flareon's back and ramming his side into its spine. Immediately it dropped flat to the ground, its legs sprawled out at tits side. It laid there, eyes shut but still breathing for several seconds before Carter stood, walked past it and bowed to Joe who bowed back. Blaine didn't show any sign of disappointment. He simply pulled out a pokéball and withdrew Flareon from the battle.

"A nice attempt. I can see that my weakest pokémon isn't enough to beat even one of your pokémon. Still, Flareon is young and I'm still training him." He put the pokéball back onto his belt. "Now you have to face one of my better pokémon, however. Are you sure you're up for it?" He asked. Joe nodded, resolutely.

"I can take it on." He announced. Blaine smiled at this.

"Alright then. Out you come, Ninetales!" He threw a second pokéball out onto the battle field and white, elegant looking fox with nine long fluffy tails that were incompletely attacked to each other. As well as this it had a long flow of white fur on the top of its head which spread down the back of its head like a mane. It whipped its tails around a little then sat down patiently near its master, waiting for instruction. "Alright, now for the next question. Name the three evolutions of the kanto fire type starter." He said. Joe didn't need to think about this one. He already had those three pokémon.

"Charmander, Charmeleon and Charizard." He answered. Blaine nodded.

"Well done. Full points. Now you get to choose whether you want to make the first move or not. "He explained. Joe considered for a second before finally answering.

"I shall try making the first move." He decided. Blaine nodded acceptingly. He raised out an open hand, gesturing he make choice. Joe turned back to Carter who waited patiently for instructions. "Carter, double kick." Joe called. Carter nodded and ran forwards, reaching his maximum speed in seconds. Blaine had been prepared for this, however.

"Confuse ray!" He instructed. Ninetales let a small bubble of purple ghostly light out from its mouth which glided forwards and headed for Carter. Carter stopped and watched the ball as it floated towards him and began to spin around him, slowly at first but quickly gaining speed. Carter followed it, spinning on the spot as he tried to catch it. Suddenly the ball disappeared in a puff of air and Carter stopped, his head rotating like a spinning top. He stumbled around, trying to find his opponent again and nearly fell over. Joe grunted.

"No, Carter. Come on. Focus!" He called. Carter hardly understood any words he said. To him in his confused state it sounded like 'oN, tarCer. meoC no. cuFos!' He landed on the floor, only just stopping his face hitting the floor by putting his hand out in front of him. Ninetales laughed. At this rate she wouldn't need to even make an attack. Carter shook his head, trying to focus and slowly pushed himself back up, still spinning slightly. He ran forwards, moving in a gradually tilting line, heading to hit opponent. He jumped, aiming to kick but instead of hitting Ninetales he flew over the edge of the pitch, hitting the lowered ground under it and landing in the fire around it. He yelled in pain as the flames scalded his skin and he shot up into the air, trying to pat out the flames. He landed on his side back in the field, huffing the last of the flames out. "Blaine laughed now.

"Very amusing performance. Ten out of Ten!" He cheered, mockingly. Joe tensed up.

"Carter! Get up!" He whispered. Carter rose slowly to his feet, shaking of the confusion finally. He could still fight but he'd taken a lot of damage from the fall and the fire. Another attack may be enough to take him out. "Good. Now use mega kick!" Joe called. Carter rushed forwards and rose out a steady leg which began to glow white with power. Ninetales didn't seem fazed. At the last second her body began to glow red and she released a fiery blast which hit Carter head on and knocked him over. He hit the ground with a loud thud and lay there, eyes spinning and head stinging. He tried to stand up but couldn't keep his legs stable or strong enough to push himself up. Finally he gave up and closed his eyes, lying defeated before the foe. Joe sighed, slightly disappointed but not angry. Carter had tried his best and he was still a new member of the group. Besides he had beaten Flareon already, meaning the others wouldn't need to spend too much energy on the rest of them. He withdrew him and thanked him for his help in the fight. He then put Carter's pokéball back on his belt and sent Ralph. He decided on Ralph because he was quick and agile. Hopefully that would be enough to beat Ninetales. Ralph took his place on the field. Blaine looked yet again surprised.

"Crobat? Again not a pokémon I would have expected you to have." He admitted. Joe smiled to himself. "You attack first, again." Blaine told him. Joe didn't think twice about this.

"Ralph, use Aerial Ace!" Joe instructed. Ralph shot forwards, both pares of wings folded in and acting as one. He glided forwards, making almost no sound and struck Ninetales in the side. The slash of air that was lefty behind from the attack was vicious looking like a scar. Quickly it faded and Ninetales groaned in pain. She seemed to survive most of the damage, however. Ralph came flying back around for another attack.

"Fire Spin! Blaine instructed. Ninetales blew out a couple of small embers which spun and rotated around each other, forming a fiery twister. The fire spin flew out and trapped Ralph as he flew through it. He struggled against the blaze but it was spinning so fast he was pulled along with the current, rotating around and around, getting ever faster till finally he was flung out and sent sailing through the air as the fire spin disappeared. He landed painfully on the ground and skidded across the ground, landing at Joe's feet. Quickly Joe lifter him up and dusted him down.

"You're ok." He said, helping Ralph relax. "Just make your attacks land and you can beat it. Ok, get back out there." He turned Ralph around and pushed him out, releasing him as he took off into the air again. "Fly!" Joe instructed. Ralph shot upwards, reaching the dark ceiling and hovering in the air, out of reach of any attacks. Ninetales glared up at him and tried using flamethrower but the fire didn't reach high enough to hit him. He chuckled and shot back down again, moving so fast he was a blur. He folded his wings flat out and dived. When he was about to hit the ground again he levelled out, sped forwards and struck Ninetales head on, sending it flying backwards. Ninetales huffed, let out a small ember of fire and collapsed, KO'd. Rocky and Winter clapped from the rows as they watched the fight. Joe was doing well so far and they hoped that it wouldn't go south from there. Blaine clapped as well but gave a slower yet still honest pat on his palm.

"Very good. You really are strong. So much power and courage in your pokémon. I applaud you." He said, withdrawing Ninetales and putting the pokéball back on his belt. He then unclipped a third ball and readied it. "Still, I have two more yet and you haven't even seen my strongest pokémon yet." He raised an eyebrow, tauntingly. "Would you like to meet them?" He asked. Joe looked at him. He seemed to be trying to trick him in some way, maybe by making him too confident. Either way he wasn't going to fall for it.

"Go ahead." He said, simply. Blaine narrowed his brow again, his smile never fading from his mouth. He raised the pokéball.

"Come on out, Magmar!" He roared, throwing the pokéball onto the field. When it opened another new pokémon appeared. This one looked to be nothing but fire all over its red upper body and yellow under body. It had a rather fat looking body with short hands and feet that ended in four claws. It also had a snout the breathed fire and a long, yellow tail that had a flame on its tip. Fire spouts bellowed out from two holes on the back of its head and long red spines ran down the ridge of its back. It raised its head up and breathed out a huge plume of fire from its thin snout, threatening its opponent. Ralph stared at the creature which, to him, looked like some kind of demon. "Now for the next question." Blaine announced, snapping Joe and Ralph out of their trances. He coughed again, this time more loud. "Ok then. In the Kanto pokedex what pokémon is classified as the Fire Horse Pokémon?" He asked. "And you cannot check." He added quickly. Joe stopped himself. This was a tough question. As far as he was aware there were two pokémon that looked like horses and were fire types: Ponyta and Rapidash. They just so happened to be evolutions of one another. But which was classified as the Fire Horse pokémon? He pondered over this for a minute. It seemed like a trick of some kind. He didn't know which the correct answer was because both seemed eligible for the title. Finally he decided to just choose one and hope for the best.

"Is it Rapidash?" He asked. There was a short, tense pause.

"No." Blaine said finally. Joe punched himself. He had got it wrong.

"Stupid." He muttered to himself. "Of course it was Ponyta, how could I make such a beginner mistake. Suddenly Blaine spoke again.

"The answer is Ponyta _and_ Rapidash. Both are classed as the Fire Horse pokémon." His smile grew almost malicious. Joe just stared at him, utterly stunned by his horrible trick. "Not every question has a single answer, boy. Maybe you should remember that next time." He looked back to the battle. "Now I make the first move." He raised a hand. "Magmar, Fire Blast!" He commanded. Magmars snout expanded as it collected flame in its mouth and released it, creating a huge fiery five pointed star of flame which shot of towards the opponent. Ralph saw it coming and shot over it, narrowly avoiding getting singed by the edges.

"Good, Ralph." Joe called as Ralph flew out of the way. "Now, use poison fang!" He continued. Ralph sped forwards, wings folded in and mouth agape. The two large front fangs glistened purple as they filled with poison. As he flew it he bit down on Magmars swiping claw and brought his sharp fangs deep into its arm. As he did so however its fiery skin singed him, causing a lot of damage in the process. He pulled back, letting go of his attack and narrowly dodging a flamethrower that was sent in response. His mouth was burning hot where he had bitten into Magmars fiery arms. It had left small degree burns around his jaw which stung and distracted his concentration. "Damn, burned." Joe muttered. He thought up a new tactic quickly. "Ok, use Air Cutter to get it at a long range." Joe called. Ralph grunted painfully and flapped his wings, sending the cutting air slashing through Magmar and causing quite a lot of damage. Magmar fell forwards slightly but caught itself with one small hand and pushed itself back up again.

"Good, Magmar. Now use Overheat!" Blaine instructed. Magmar began to glow read as it pulled in the heat from around the room and released it in the form of a thin wave of hot air.

"Look out, Ralph." Joe called. Ralph just barely managed to dodge the oncoming attack as the heat tapped the top of his wing and burned it. The rest of him managed to fly over the wave and avoid being damaged. "Good, now use steel wing." Joe instructed. Ralph flew towards Magmar, both wings out flat and glistening silver. He struck Magmar on the side with the solid metal tip and flew on; avoiding another attack Magmar was creating. His burns were starting to take their toll now as his attacks were gradually getting weaker and so was he. If he didn't finish Magmar now and get a rest he'd go down from fatigue. "Fly!" Joe called again. Ralph shot upwards into the air and hovered there for a few seconds before diving back down, aimed at the large fiery monster on Blaine's side. Blaine however had been prepared for this.

"Fire Punch!" He called. Magmar bulled back a small hand which became engulfed in fire and threw it forwards as Ralph came in to attack. Ralph could not stop in time as he saw what was going to happen. As he was about to strike Magmar lashed out, punching him square in the face and sending him sailing backwards. The force that was created by how fast Ralph was going combined with the power created by Magmar swinging out with a fist was enough to know him out of the air completely. Ralph hit the ground painfully, his bat ears poking up in pain. He ground weakly and tried pushing himself up with his front wings. After a minute or so of trying he finally succeeds, getting back up onto his front and back wings which he used to hold himself up.

"Come on, Ralph. You can still win!" Joe cheered, slightly concerned by how it was beginning to go. Ralph smiled at him and nodded, strongly, affirmatively. As he turned back around to fight again, however, a fiery five pointed star hit him in the chest and sent him flying back even further till finally he hit Joe's podium and slumped forwards. He lay there for several seconds before he was finally pronounced as KO'd. Joe sighed. "Maybe not." He muttered. Blaine raised a clenched hand.

"I believe that's 2:2 right now." He announced. Joe picked up Ralph from where he lay and put him down by his side, allowing him time to rest from his injuries. He was still conscious but hardly able to move at that point, currently using the podium to lean on to keep himself up. "Go on and release your next pokémon." Blaine called again. Joe sighed and reached for his third pokéball. He gripped it in his fingers and held it up in the air for a second before finally throwing it up and into the air.

"Go, Cinders!" He called as the ball snapped open and his huge fiery Charizard flew out and glided around his side of the room for several seconds. Blaine raised an inquisitive eyebrow.

"Charizard. Actually that's a pokémon I was expecting you to have." He mumbled. He then raised a hand out again. "I still go first. Magmar, fire punch!" He instructed.

"Cinders, Wing attack!" Joe called. Cinders landed, released a heavy plume of flame into the air and lunged forwards, wings outstretched as he glided over the floor and towards the opponent. Magmar swung in with its attack and missed as Cinders flew straight through it and toppled it over, hitting it in the chest with a large orange wing. Magmar quickly got back up and tried to attack again using fire spin but Cinders was moving too fast. He dodged the attack with ease and returned the attack with a Slash. His claws swiped down across Magmar's face and knocked it back a couple of steps.

"Fire Blast!" Blaine instructed from his side of the field. Magmar readied itself and fired a huge blast of blazing fire in the shape of a star. He aimed it directly at the section of air cinders was flying into and struck him as he flew through it. Cinders winced but managed to take most of the damage with ease. He landed in front of Magmar to confront it personally.

"Slash!" Joe called. Cinders raised a sharp claw and brought it swinging down, glowing bright white. Magmar however jumped aside, narrowly avoiding being caught on the head by the blow.

"Fire Punch!" Blaine instructed. Magmar brought its flaming hand down on the top of Cinders head as he turned around to glaze at it. The blow was so strong that it knocked Cinders to the ground instantly. He pushed himself up, shook his head awake and glared up at the flaming mass. Magmar stood only feet away from him, readying a flamethrower. Cinders quickly covered himself with his wing, using them as a shield as Magmar released a pillar of burning flame. The fire bounced of Cinder's wings harmlessly. He looked over and growled, defiantly at his opponent. Magmar didn't seem concerned at all. Blaine also didn't seem worried by Cinder's strength. He raised a hand, pointed out a long finger and bellowed the words "Thunderpunch!" Magmar suddenly jumped into action, rushing forwards with an arm pulled back. Cinders roared and rushed forwards as well, preparing to use another slash.

"Cinders, no!" Joe called, seeing what was going to happen but Cinders didn't listen. He charged in head lowered and claws out. As he got close he raised them and brought them slashing down towards his opponent. At the same time Magmar brought its fist up, aiming for Cinder's jaw. There was a flash of electricity and suddenly Cinders was sent sailing backwards before he could land his attack. Magmar's attack had hit home, sparking electricity into Cinder's body and sending him rocketing backwards. Joe jumped aside as the heavy form of his charizard skidded backwards across the pitch and hit his podium at full force, cracking it down the sides and causing it to tilt. For several seconds he lay there dazed before finally he began to push himself up again. He was breathing heavily and there was real anger in his eyes. He raised his head and roared furiously, bellowing blue fire from his great mouth as he released his anger. Joe and his friends watched in wonderment, even Blaine was quite surprised. The raw power that was being displayed was colossal. After several seconds Cinders shut his mouth and lowered his head, his dragon rage calming down again. Magmar seemed a little surprised but not too concerned. It just narrowed his eyebrows and punched its fists together.

"Alright Cinders. Try that new move on Magmar!" Joe instructed. Cinders puffed a small ember from his mouth and charged forwards, his throat expanding slightly as it filled with fire. Magmar ran forwards as well, its fist sparking again with electricity. Cinders released his attack and Magmar was covered in purple blue fire which pushed him back and caused some strong damage. It didn't stop it, however as he managed to keep himself moving and struck Cinders in the stomach, hitting him backwards yet again. This time he didn't go fly anywhere near as far back as the Dragon Rage had dulled the power of the electricity in the punch. Quicker this time Cinders got back to his feet, readying a flamethrower in an attempt to keep his opponent back. Magmar however had been waiting for this. As Cinders took in a heavy breath and his stomach expanded and filled with fire, Magmar readied a small amount of fire at the end of his snout. As Cinders opened his jaw to breathe out another pillar of flame Magmar loosed its flame which sped forwards at lightning speed and disappeared inside Cinders mouth, stopping his attack completely. Cinders skidded to a halt, the small flame dancing at the back of his throat. He gulped and the flame went down into his stomach. Immediately he felt a rough burning sensation in his stomach. Smoke began to drift out of his nostrils and his eyes began to slowly water and turn red. He stood there, open eyed for several seconds. Then he began to howl. He ran about, stomping on the ground, the pain from the fire trapped in his belly driving him mad as it burned away at his energy. He roared and bellowed out several more flamethrowers in a desperate attempt to get the fire out. Magmar meanwhile just stood watching the display, arms crossed calmly. Blaine smiled, almost maliciously.

"Good, Magmar. Very good." He complemented quietly. "Now finish the deal with confuse ray." Magmar nodded and turned back to the fight. It released a small dot of ghostly purple light from its mouth which floated forwards towards Cinders and began dancing around him. He seemed a bit too preoccupied however with putting out the fire inside of him. He swatted out at the ghost ball while trying to rub his stomach and calm down the pain. Eventually he ended up spinning around in a circle with one hand on his stomach and the other on his head. Finally, when he felt as if he could take no more he toppled backwards, hitting the ground with another earth shaking thud, his eyes spinning and his stomach aching. Magmar stepped forwards and kicked him in the foot, getting a low, annoyed growl as a response. Joe looked away, disappointed in the outcome.

"Damn it!" He muttered, clenching his fists. Cinders wasn't exactly KO'd but he certainly wasn't in a fit state to keep fighting. Quickly he pulled out Cinders' pokéball and withdrew him from the field. "Down to one pokémon." He told himself, and pulled out his final pokéball. At least he'd saved his best chance for last. He looked up and saw Blaine standing with open arms upwards, smiling at him.

"Well now. This is a turn of events. Such a strong start turned into one pokémon left. I told you you'd need burn heal. I assume you do have one more pokémon, don't you?" He glanced down at Joe's hand, gripping the final pokéball by his side.

"I do." Joe said, calmly considering the strain he felt. Blaine lowered his hand and held one out, gesturing that it was Joe's move. Joe was about to throw the pokéball but then he stopped. "Wait. Before I reveal my finally Pokémon I wish to ask you a question." Blaine raised an eyebrow, intrigued.

"Ask away." He replied. Joe smiled.

"Ok. I want you to tell me what weaknesses fire types have." Joe asked. Blaine looked a little confused.

"I thought I asked you that question." He replied, rubbing his hairless chin. Joe nodded.

"You did, but now I'm asking you it. So come on. What's the answer?" Joe folded his arms, waiting for Blaine's reply. Blaine thought for a few seconds.

"Well that would be water, ground and rock of course." He told him quickly. He then raised his eyebrows and laughed slightly. "Dear boy, you'll have to come up with a better question then that." Joe's smile grew slightly.

"Ok. Next question. What pokémon am I holding in my hand?" He asked. Blaine stopped and looked up at him. His eyebrows raised. He didn't seem to know how to answer this.

"Do I just guess?" He asked. Joe nodded, slowly. "Hmm." He thought. "Well is it strong against fire types?" He asked. Joe nodded. "Is it a Golem?" He asked. Joe shook his head. "Well what about Sandslash?" Joe shook his head again. "Gyarados?" Blaine asked desperately. Again Joe shook his head. Blaine leaned back. "What what is it then?" He asked giving up. "What is your final pokémon?"

"So you give up?" Joe asked, mockingly.

"Yes I give up." Blaine shouted, thumping the podium. "So what is this pokémon?" Joe readied his arm.

"I'll show you." He called and threw the ball into the air. It sailed across the pitch and finally hit the ground, snapping open and releasing a young female, slightly timid looking vaporeon. Nami looked around the field, saw Magmar and recoiled in surprise, covering her face with her tail in defence. Blaine leaned back, raised his head and laughed. He laughed so hard he began to cough till he could hardly breathe.

"Really. You had me guessing just so you could reveal that. A frightened vaporeon!" Nami felt a little bit upset by this comment. She looked over at him, aimer and fired a thin ice beam at his arm, freezing the sleeve solid to the podium. Blaine jumped in surprise and looked down at his now frozen hand. With a swift movement he smashed the ice on the side of the wooden stand and looked down at the now slightly annoyed vaporeon that had attacked him. "Well she has spirit, I'll give her that. Please restrain your pokémon from attacking me in the future." Joe apologised and gave Nami a quick telling of.

"Don't aim for Blaine next time." He told her. Nami nodded thought not happily. "If you win this for me there will be a big portion of Berry Ice-cream for you after." He added. Suddenly Nami looked up, a big smile on her face. That had got her motivated. She yapped happily and Joe smiled at her. "Ok, Nami. let's do this." They both turned to the battle. Blaine was waiting patiently for Joe to ready. When he did he raised his arms up again.

"Magmar, use Overheat!" He commanded. Magmar's skin began to glow red as heat built up in it.

"Use Surf, Nami!" Joe called. Nami created a huge wave of striding water which built up and raised high into the sky over her. The two attacks released and sped forwards colliding into each other. Overheat didn't stand a chance at holding up to it. The heated wave of air hit the water and evaporated in seconds. All it succeeded in doing was heating the oncoming wave up a little. The surf crashed into Magmar, knocking it over with its pure force. Blaine stood, watching in horror as his pokémon was washed aside. In one foul swoop Nami had knocked out his second strongest pokémon. He may have been injured already but still it was very impressive. He quickly changed his expression from shocked to impressed.

"Well." He mumbled, rubbing the back of his head. "I must admit I didn't see that coming." Clapping came from the other side of the room. It was coming from Winter and Rocky who were cheering wildly as Nami executed her attack perfectly. Even Ralph had gotten back up into the air to see the fight properly now. Her attack had been so powerful it had surprise even him. It had been such a wave. An Awesome Wave! Joe smiled.

"Good work Nami." He applauded. Nami looked back and did a mock bow as best she could. Blaine turned to his Arcanine who had been stationary and silent during the entire match. It had been watching carefully, picking out all the small details on both how Joe fought and how his pokémon fought. Blaine stroked his long greying main and patted him on the head. Arcanine gave a low, puppy like growl as he did so.

"Your turn." Blaine whispered in his ear. Arcanine smiled evilly and jumped into the arena. As it landed on all fours it began to prowl its side of the field, howling like a wolf at the full moon, and bearing its teeth. Upon sight of it Nami immediately fell back into her timid mindset. She backed up and held her head down. Blaine chuckled. "Down to one each." He announced. "Now for my final question, trainer. Above all others." He raised his hands out dramatically. "Who's going to win?"

Joe and Blaine were locked in a deadly stare, neither blinking as they anticipated the others actions. Nami however was keeping her gaze well away from Arcanine's. She was currently too afraid to look it in the eyes in case it snapped. Some pokémon like Arcanine had a tendency to do that sometimes. Blaine pumped a fist in the air.

"My turn!" He shouted. He then pointed a finger at Nami. "Arcanine, use Extremespeed!" He commanded. Arcanine tensed its legs and then suddenly it was gone. The only thing left where it had been was a blurred white outline. Nami barely had time to see all this as she was struck in the side a split second later. She rolled over a couple of times and looked up, bewildered. Arcanine was standing where she had been, glaring down at her, fire wafting from the edge of its snarling mouth. "Flamethrower!" Blaine commanded again.

"Look out, Nami!" Joe called. Nami jumped aside just as Arcanine released its attack and sent the long cloud of singeing flames down at the floor she had been lying on. "Ok, now use Ice Beam and freeze it solid!" Joe commanded, getting slightly pumped by his excitement. Nami did so, firing Ice Beam at Arcanine's front feet and freezing them solid in a lump of ice. For a few seconds Arcanine tried to pull its legs out before finally deciding to melt it off. As it began to breathe more fire onto it Nami struck it in the side with quick attack, taking it by surprise. She rolled over it as it kicked her of and to the side and got back up onto its four large dog paws.

"Overheat!" Blaine called. The tension between the trainers and their pokémon was heavy. Arcanine glowed red as heated air swelled around it.

"Acid Armour, Quickly!" Joe instructed. Nami did so, small particles of a strange acidic substance oozing out of her skin and onto her coat. The liquid dried and solidified, creating a watery purple haze around her skin, hardening it and protecting it from serious damage. Arcanine released and its attack hit Nami head on. He winced and shut her eyes but most of the attack simply passed by her. She took a little damage but thanks to her new shell she had withstood almost all of it. The purple acid shattered away with the heat wave. She no longer needed it there anymore. She yapped, defiantly and waited for her opponent to make another move. Arcanine frowned at her, annoyed. For an elderly pokémon he was certainly very strong.

"Sunny Day!" Blaine barked. Arcanine fired a small but bright orb of red heated light into the air. It hovered over the field, illuminating the room and making it much brighter and much hotter.

"Hydro Pump!" Joe called. Nami gathered water in her mouth and released a huge cannon full at Arcanine. As the torrent flew forwards in a beam in began to evaporate and shrink till it became little more than a water gun. The remaining attack simply splashed over Arcanine and caused it mild inconvenience. Nami stopped the attack and looked in confusion at the evaporating steam around here. Here attack had weakened in the sunlight. Blaine was chuckling to himself.

"Sunny day. Weakens water type moves while strengthens fire type moves. Nifty for these little situations." He explained, not exactly to Joe but more to the entire room. Joe cursed under his breath. He'd have to think through this battle carefully. "Fire Blast!" Blaine commanded suddenly. Joe's brain snapped into sudden immediate action.

"Nami, use Ice beam, quick! Aim for its mouth!" He shouted. Nami looked unsure but did as she was told. As Arcanine was about to unleash its attack Nami fired an Ice beam directly into its open mouth, freezing it solid. Arcanine yapped in surprise as its upper jaw was locked into place. Inside its mouth sat a huge crystal of ice which stopped it closing. Arcanine growled and shook its head, trying to loosen the shard and spit it out but it would not move. Finally it resorted to using a flamethrower, melting the ice into water and then boiling it into steam. Finally when it could move its mouth again it turned to Nami. Its expression of anger turned to surprise when it saw the huge wave that sat behind her. It reached over fifteen feet high and was already beginning to curve over. Suddenly it came roaring forwards, toppling down onto Arcanine like an avalanche. For a while it disappeared under the water. When the attack subsided Arcanine lay still conscious on its stomach. It slowly pushed itself back up onto its feet, eyes closer and wincing with the effort. Nami watched it carefully as it stumbled forwards. Suddenly its eyes snapped open and stared straight into Nami's. Nami stepped back in fear. Its eyes were red and enraged and staring straight at her. She had looked it in the eyes at the worst possible time. Suddenly, without command, Arcanine sped forwards, almost a blur, running, screaming towards Nami. "Look out!" Joe called but he was miles to late. The second he finished saying the first word Arcanine struck, ramming Nami over onto her side and pinning her down with its huge paws. It glared at her, viciously, fire crackling its eyes and saliva dripping from its teeth. It roared in her face, filling her nose with the horrific smell of rotten meat that dogs always seemed to suffer from. As it did so however Nami saw an opportunity and took it. As it was about to finish its intimidating she fired a small burst of water from her mouth and into Arcanine's. Its jaw slammed shut as a reaction and it stared at her, unthinking for a few seconds. It suddenly leaned to the side and began spitting, trying to get the freezing water out of its mouth. While it was distracted Nami fired another jet of water, this time a much bigger on, straight into Arcanine's side, knocking it back and off of her. The large fiery dog hit the ground a few feet away and looked up in surprise. Nami was getting back to her feet.

"What?" Blaine asked loudly. Joe smiled at him.

"That was revenge for Cinders. You use horrible tricks then you'll get them used back at you." He smirked. Blaine growled and began shouting at Arcanine.

"Finish it!" He bellowed. Arcanine stood back up and charged again, cloaking himself in fire and heat, attempting to use Fire Blast and Overheat at the same time. Now was Joe's chance. A move like that would use a lot of power. If Nami could dodge it the Arcanine would be easy to take out. If she couldn't then Blaine would most likely win. Then he remembered the floating fire ball above the battlefield.

"Of course." He muttered. If he could take it out then Arcanine would have less power on its side, meaning it would be tougher for it to make an accurate shot. Quickly he turned back to the field and began commanding. "Nami, use Hydro Pump on the Sunny Day! Aim at the sphere!" He called. Nami looked up and saw the ball hanging above her. She readied an attack. Arcanine was getting closer. Then she released, sending a long burst of quickly evaporating water up at the flame. One small drop made it that high. It flew up and hit the fire ball, evaporating instantly. A second later the ball faded away and the room became a lot darker and colder. Nami looked back at Arcanine who was so close now, but slowing down gradually. "Dodge!" Joe shouted, tension streaming around him. At the last second Nami jumped aside, narrowly avoiding singeing her feet on Arcanine's fire. Arcanine kept running and turned, heading back to attack. Now, use Surf!" Joe called again. Nami stopped and water began to gather under her. It rose higher and higher as the water seeped from the ground, the air, her skin and creative a massive looming wave of water. Arcanine still kept running, unable to stop. Then, the watery wall fell. Heavy droplets of water dropped from the air all around Arcanine as the entire wave lurched forwards. Finally arcanine released its attack, sending a heat wave and a fire blast spiralling towards the water. The fire attacks sped off, hit their target… and evaporated. Arcanine could only stair in fear and disbelief as the wave collapsed on top of it. Within seconds the entire battlefield was covered in water. When it left all that remained was an unconscious Arcanine and a very proud looking Nami. She would definitely be getting Ice-cream now. Blaine was just standing amazed, his jaw metaphorically touching the floor.

"Wow." He exclaimed. There was a long silence, broken only by the cheering of Winter and Rocky from the sides.

"Amazing!" They cried. "Brilliant!"

"Well done Nami." Joe complemented his pokémon. Nami smiled back at him. She rushed to his side and nuzzled his hand as he kneeled down and stroked her head. Ralph even joined in the congratulations, patting her on the bag and giving her a friendly hug. Blaine stepped away from his podium and helped Arcanine back onto his feet. He was still conscious but he was going to need a little help walking around for a while. He walked slowly over to Joe and held out a hand. Joe took it and shook it.

"Congratulation." Blaine told him. "You've just beaten your seventh gym leader." He pulled his hand away, leaving something shiny in Joe's palm. He looked down at it. It was a gym badge, shaped like a small ember of fire with a dark red gem centre. Joe took the badge and added it to the others he had already collected. Only one spot was left vacant. "The Volcano badge shows your victory over me, both in battle and in mind." Blaine smiled. "The other Gym Leader's were right. You were a worthy opponent." Joe looked up at him and nodded gratefully.

"Thank you. He said.

A little while later and the group were back in the pokémon centre getting healed up. The nurse had been kind enough to set up a little area where Joe's team could eat their reward, with a little help from Joe himself. Currently they were all tucking into a selection of different berries crushed and whipped into a cream. Even Pippy and Pitt had been given a bowl even though they didn't take part in the battle. Joe meanwhile was standing with Winter and Rocky who were still congratulating him on his win.

"I had no Idea Nami could create that kind of power." Winter said, astonished, staring over at the vaporeon who currently was trying to lick a bit of cream of her nose. Joe smiled and nodded in agreement.

"To be honest neither did I." He told them, honestly. "I think it was the fact I promised her a reward. Of course after I did that I couldn't leave the others out or they'd get Jealous." He chuckled. Winter chuckled as well.

"Just one left now." Rocky told him. "Scary isn't it. To think just yesterday you were battling me and loosing."

"I wasn't really loosing." Joe argued, cheekily. "More like letting you win." Rocky rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, right." He muttered. Bill walked in through the doors now followed by a ship captain. The two of them walked over to the group and stopped beside them.

"We're ready to head off now if you are." He told them. "We won't be going far. We can easily get to the Sevii Islands and back in a day via boat." The group looked around each other. They all seemed ready to head off.

"I'll just gather my team." Joe told him. Bill nodded.

"Meet up outside by the dock." He told him. Rocky and Winter followed after Bill and the Captain as they walked from the room and outside into the city. Joe quickly rushed over to his team and got their attention.

"Come on, guys. Time to go." He said. All six pokémon looked up at him, sad expressions on their faces. Most of them hadn't finished their meal. "You can take them with you." Joe told them quickly. "Just hurry, we're holding everybody up." Quickly all six pokémon slurped down the ice-cream and returned to their pokéballs. Only Ralph remained out, licking the last residue of cream of his face. He and Joe ran out of the pokémon centre, waving a final goodbye to the nurse as they did so. They ran down the stone pavement towards the docks. When they reached it they saw Bill and the others already waiting inside a small but fast looking sports ship. Joe and Ralph quickly climbed on board and the ship set of south east, heading for the Sevii Islands. As they sailed away a figure watched them from the volcano's ridge. Using his binoculars he picked out the five figures, three of them the ones he had been following since Viridian. He moved his sight further ahead and saw Three Island in the distance, its forests just visible on the horizon. A pokémon grunted next to him. He put the binoculars down and turned to Golbat who was looking questioningly at him. The figure sighed.

"They're heading for the Sevii islands." He told it. Golbat nodded, understandingly, shutting its jaw completely as it lent forwards. The figure turned back to the ocean. Without the binoculars the boat was just a speck on the water. He smiled to himself. "Only 36 hours to go now. See you at Silph Co." He stood up and raised out a hand. Golbat took off and gripped its feet onto his arm, perching there for several seconds. The figure turned to his pokémon. "Fly me to Saffron City." He commanded. Golbat took off again, this time grabbing it's master by the collar and lifting him of the air. The two of them flew off into the sky heading north towards the storm which loomed over Kanto's biggest city. It was there that the final battle would happen. The final hour before _he_ would return.


	30. Chapter 30: Nightmare

**Sorry that this chapter's a little long but I couldn't fins a way to shorten it without splitting it into two parts. Oh well, I hope you enjoy it. Also there's a couple of horror moments in this chapter, a new genre I'm trying. If you like the way it's written I might use it again. If not then, oh well.**

Joe stirred suddenly. The world around him was faded black, he couldn't move, his mid ached and scream for release. He wanted to wake up, so desperately. Suddenly he lurched forwards, his eyes opened and he was back in his bedroom at Suroway farm. He gasped recuperating from the sleep he had been trapped in. He looked around confused. He was indeed back in his old room, lying on his bed with multiple different drawings and pictures around the walls. On the opposite side of the room was a small television with static playing on the screen. Joe rubbed his head.

"Wha…" He tried to say but his confusion stifled his brain. Had everything he'd experienced been a dream? He certainly hoped not but the evidence seemed overwhelming. "Ralph? Winter? Rocky?" He called. No one replied. Had they just been figments of his imagination? To make sure he pinched his arm. "Ouch!" He yelped. Then he sighed. "Yep. Definitely real." He decided quickly. But if this was reality then why had his brain made the dream feel so real? Suddenly he heard someone calling for him from downstairs.

"Joe, are you awake? Come on down, son. I've made you breakfast." The voice was Joe's Uncle. He would have recognised that kindly tone anywhere. Quickly he slipped out of his pyjamas, put on his proper clothes and rushed downstairs. He jumped of the final step and landed on all fours. He locked around the room. It was indeed the exact same room as when he left. The living room was on the right, the dining room and kitchen on the left and in the middle a small hallway connecting the two. His eyes fixed onto the table where a plate of steaming fresh pancakes covered in syrup lay waiting. "Go ahead and tuck in." His Uncle's voice told him from across the room. He turned back to the living room and saw that his uncle was sitting on the furthest sofa… or at least he assumed it was his uncle. He was completely shrouded in shadow which seemed to fill up the end of the room, so much so that all Joe could see was a vague outline. Joe however paid no attention to that. He quickly rushed over to the table and swung himself up onto the raised chair. He immediately began tucking in to the tower of pancakes that had been prepared. "Did you sleep well?" His uncle asked from across the room. Joe nodded, though barely paying attention.

"Yeah, I slept fine." He told him. Then he began rubbing the side of his head. "Well actually I had a really strange dream." He told him. His uncle didn't move but Joe could hear him contemplating what he had said.

"Dream?" He asked.

"Yes." Joe explained. "I dreamt that last night I woke up and saw a strange pokémon called a Crobat being attacked on the hill outside. I rushed over to save it and suddenly we were travelling together all across Kanto. We caught more pokémon, made more friends and even battled a strange group of criminals stupidly called Team Rocket." His uncle chuckled.

"Well I must say I've never heard of Team Rocket or Crobat. What on earth's a Crobat?" He laughed. Joe chuckled slightly too. For some reason it wasn't as funny to hi. The dream had felt so real that he couldn't bring himself to laugh over an imaginary pokémon. The relationship he had built with it in a second would not budge.

"I don't know." He said finally, putting down the form.

"Anyway, you wouldn't want to go on a journey with pokémon at your age. You wouldn't like it." His uncle continued. Joe looked up and suddenly he noticed something off.

"Where's Blitz?" He asked. His uncle looked up.

"Blitz?" He questioned. Joe nodded.

"Our Growlithe puppy." He explained. "Is he outside?"

"Yes." His uncle told him after a short pause. "He's playing with the other pokémon. He's fine. I wouldn't disturb him." Joe nodded in understanding.

"Then where's his bed and foot bowl?" He asked suddenly. His uncle thought for a second.

"Uh, oh yeah that's right I gave them a wash. They're drying in the kitchen right now." He explained, almost as if it was nothing of importance. Joe turned back and looked into the white wallpapered room. By the sink there were a couple of plates and cutlery piles… but no sign of any bedding or food bowl. Maybe his uncle had got it wrong and had put them somewhere else. It was totally possible. 'But then again, how did he not recognise Blitz's name?' He thought. He turned back. Suddenly he noticed something else that was off. The tower of pancakes had depleted to at least half the height it had been. Joe looked it up and down. Had he eaten all that?

"Would it be okay if I went to see Tom before I left for the lab?" Joe asked. His uncle turned to him again.

"Who's Tom?" he asked. Joe stared at him. Surely Tom hadn't been a figment of his imagination, too. He was sure they had been best friends since they were at least three years old.

"You know, Tom. Our neighbour. My best friend. Tom!" Joe reminded him. His uncle shook his head.

"Joe you don't have friends. You stay in here all the time. There are no other children in the town for you to be friends with." He told him. Joe raised an eyebrow at this.

"No, I remember. He got a pokémon last week. He said I could come over…" He was stopped by his uncle who raised a hand.

"Joe, you just imagined him." His uncle explained "There is no Tom in the town. If there was I'm sure that Prof Oak would have SPOKEN to him at some point." Joe's eyes widened. Did his uncle's voice just distort? He shook his head. No, it was just his tired mind playing tricks on him. He rubbed his head again. He grabbed the fork again and cut a piece of pancake of. He raised it to his mouth and bit into it, only to find that he was biting into the metal fork itself. He spat and pulled it out. There was no pancake on it at all. There never had been. He looked down. All the pancakes were gone, completely gone. All that remained of them were a small collection of crumbs and a few dribbles of syrup. Joe look at it, bewildered. Surely he couldn't have eaten it all subconsciously. What was going on here? He decided to ask the ultimate question.

"Well I may as well head of now to go get my pokémon from Professor Oak." He told him, getting up from his seat. His uncle's voice boomed around the room.

"What!" He asked. Joe stopped a few feet away from the door, looking into the living room. It seemed a lot darker then it did before. Had the shadows moved? Joe gulped.

"Remember. Professor Oak is giving me my first pokémon toady. He told you about it weeks ago." Suddenly Joe's uncle got up from his seat. He seemed a little taller than Joe remembered. Joe stepped back, nervously. Something was definitely not right here. Joe gulped.

"Uh, I said I'm going to choose my pokémon." He repeated. His uncle laughed.

"Choose? Pokémon? Joe you don't need any pokémon. You're staying here with me. I can protect you from anything." He laughed. It sounded more like a threat then a reassurance. Joe shook his head.

"No, I want to have my own pokémon. You said I could so I'm going to." He could hear heavy breathing coming from the shadows where his uncle stood.

"No you won't!" He snapped, rather surprisingly to Joe who looked at him. Why was he so angry suddenly?

"I am going. You can't stop me." He told him, speaking sternly. Suddenly the floor began to shake, very slightly at first but becoming more noticeable. His uncle stepped forwards. A she did so the floor underneath him creaked and broke.

"YOU SHALL NOT LEAVE!" He exclaimed, quietly at first but it grew louder as it echoed around the room. Suddenly the entire room erupted into sound. The windows smashed and broke away, glass was sent flying through the room. The door locked instantly. Paintings and hanging objects shook and fell from their holds on the walls. The TV switched on by itself, emitting a high pitched static scream. Wood creaked, stone cracked, plates smashed and lights exploded. Joe covered his ears, the pain overwhelming him.

"What the hell is going on?!" He screamed, his voice fading into nothing as it was drowned out by everything else. He tugged at the door handle in an attempt to escape but it was stuck fast. He could hear his uncle - or whatever it was pretending to be his uncle - stepping closer.

"YOU SHALL NOT LEAVE!" it roared, no longer in his uncle's voice but now in a distorted demonic voice. Joe looked but it was still covered in shadow from head to toe. It no longer looked human. Its outline had become bulkier and much taller with longer arms and smaller, fatter legs. On a round head two pointed long horns poked upwards in the dark. Joe kicked at the door, desperate to escape. The voice roared again. "YOU SHALL NOT LEAVE!" Joe kicked harder, desperately trying to break the door down and escape from this hellhole. He had no idea what was going on, only that he had to escape. Behind him the entire building was collapsing in on itself. Wallpaper curled and dissolved into nothing. The entire kitchen erupted into water as a pipe exploded and the sink, oven, washer, fridge and cupboards were pulled through the floor and into nothingness. It was clear now that the front door would not open. He saw another way out suddenly. On the opposite side of the room underneath the stairs was a small room which led to the cellar. He had only been in there once before. If he remembered correctly there was a way out through there which led outside into the field. It was meant for fires and emergencies and this was definitely an emergency.

"Got to get out!" Joe muttered, terrified, running up to the weak wooded cellar door and desperately kicking at it. "Got to escape!" Behind him he could field the presence of the thing behind him, getting still closer.

"YOU SHALL NOT LEAVE!" It wailed, nothing but animal rage in its voice. Wood splintered beside him. The door was beginning to break open.

"Come on!" Joe muttered desperately, smashing his shoulder into the side. Another crack appeared.

"YOU SHALL NOT LEAVE ME!" The voice screamed. A large fat yellow hand reached out from the shadows. It was so close now.

"No!" Joe shouted in fear. He smashed his shoulder against the door and it gave way, breaking off its hinges and sliding down the stairs. Without a moment's hesitation he ran down it, desperate to get away. He looked back to see that the top of the stairs was engulfed in shadow. The room beyond was gone now. He kept running, finally reaching an unlocked wooden door to the cellar. He swung it open, rushed inside and shut it behind him, pulling the wooden latch over it to lock it shut. The second he did so the door began thudding as something on the other side bashed against it. He jumped back in alarm. The creature was already outside. "Escape!" He muttered, picking himself up and looking around the room urgently. "Got to find an escape!" Finally he saw something. An old metal ladder and a hole in the roof at the far end of the room. Joe rushed over to it and looked up. At the top was a metal lid held down with a latch. Through the small holes in the lid Joe could feel fresh air from the outside blowing onto his face. The door behind him began to creak and snap. He had only seconds before it got in to him. Quickly he grabbed the ladder, propped it against the wall and began climbing. The last thing he saw in the room before he reached the pad was the door exploding into wooden shards and shadow filling the entrance. He fumbled at the latched, his sweating hands slipping on the metal but finally he pulled them of and he was free. He pulled himself out and quickly lifter up the ladder before slamming the lid back on and shutting the nightmare create in. Immediately the demonic screaming began again.

"NOOOOOOOOOOO!" It roared, seemingly in pain. "DON'T LEAVE ME! DON'T LEAVE ME!" Its screams haunted Joe as he ran on and on through the white nothingness beyond the farm, leaving the monstrosity trapped behind him.

Back at the pokémon centre Ralph, Winter and the other pokémon were starting to get anxious. They had all arrived at Three Island several hours ago only on a tour of all the islands only to be confronted by a bunch of thugs who were harassing the Pokemart clerks for money. In fact Tom, Joe's friend, had been there trying to sort out the problem when they arrived. It hadn't been the best of reunions for them as the second he was distracted all hell broke loose as the thugs began attacking. It took all four of them and their pokémon to take down all twelve thugs and their pokémon and that battle lasted for about twenty minutes. Finally the thugs gave up and retreated of into the distance. After that Joe and Tom had had a quick reunion talk and compared pokémon before taking their team to be healed at the island's pokémon centre. Most of their pokémon had been quite badly hurt during the battle so resting them was the best choice. Even Ralph had struggled in the clash. They had been waiting in the centre for a few minutes before suddenly a man rushed in, saying something about his daughter going missing the nearby forest. Joe and Tom immediately took up offers to go find her but their teams were still being healed. So they went off on their own, taking Rocky with them. Safety in numbers was a recommended strategy on the islands. That had been four hours ago. Now everyone was starting to get a little worried.

"Where are they?" Winter wondered. She was currently sitting on the waiting bench in the pokémon centre, waiting for her friends to come back. On her lap lay the young horsea, River who she had caught on route 5. River was looking up at her, giving her the same concerned face she currently was wearing. Winter stroked her head and River blew a small blue bubble from her snout. She had asked the nurse to let out all of their pokémon once they were healed, partially so she'd have some company but also so they could get a little time outside while they waited for their trainers to return. Currently the rest of them, Ralph, Pippy, Cinders, Pitt, Carter, Nami, Staryu, Stream, Lucky, Zephyr, Crash, Chopper, Mina, Ely, Gargoyle, Wartortle, Kadabra, Fearow, Weepinbell and Snorlax were all sitting around at the far side of the room talking to one another. They all seemed to have the same concerned faces.

"They'll be back." Bill told her. He had been sitting next to her, waiting for them to come back as well. "They're strong trainers. They should be fine."

"Yeah, but they went on their own without any pokémon or form of defence. They could have been attacked." Winter argued. Bill shook his head.

"Berry forest doesn't really have any dangerous pokémon in it." He explained. He patted her gently on the shoulder. "Don't worry. They'll be back any minute, I'm sure. They're probably still looking for the missing girl." He stood up. "Look, I have to go meat someone on One Island. I'll be back in about half an hour. Will you be okay here till then?" He asked. Winter shook her head, subconsciously, not really paying attention to what he had said.

"Yes." She said, simply. Looking off into the distance. Bill nodded and walked out of the building. Winter sighed and looked down at River who had fallen asleep in her arms, her tail curled around her wrist for stability. Winter smiled and leaned back against her seat, closing her eyes. She was woken a few minutes later by something tugging at her arm. She opened one eye. Lucky the chansey was standing next to her, looking worriedly up at her. Winter reached out and stroked her head. Lucky's expression did not change. "What's up?" Winter asked, trying to sound upbeat but not doing too well. Lucky pointed up at the clock on the far wall of the pokémon centre. The time on it had just gone 5:15. "It's getting late." Winter realised. She tapped her foot on the ground. "Where are they?"

**_(The following dialogue in this paragraph has been translated to human speech by the Pokedex 1.0, created and distributed by PokeCorp Enterprises for all your training conveniences.)_**

Meanwhile the other pokémon were busy debating what should be done about their missing trainers. The conversation was starting to get quite heated as they argued with each other about what they were going to do. Ralph stood – or rather floated – at the centre of the group trying to keep them under control.

"Look, our trainers our out there and maybe in serious danger. We can't just leave them helpless." He argued. Several of the group suddenly started arguing. It seemed that Chopper and Kadabra didn't agree on the subject.

"How could you just choose to leave your trainer out there?" Chopper was shouting, pushing Kadabra back with a shove to the chest. Kadabra hardly looked like he cared.

"All I'm saying is that if they're in trouble then it would be dangerous for us to go find them. We may get caught up in it as well and that could lead to our deaths. The best thing we can do is wait for them to come back."

"So you think I'm going to just wait around while my trainer could be dying?" Chopper shouted at him. Kadabra folded his arms.

"Well if you're going to throw a tantrum about it then I'm just going to ignore you." He said snobbery. Chopper clenched his fists.

"I'm not throwing a tantrum! You're just being difficult to talk to!" He shouted.

"Kadabra may be right." Carter joined in. Chopper turned his glare to the much bigger fighting type standing not too far away. "We don't know what trouble they are in, if they are in trouble at all. What if we can't help them?" Chopper began growling now.

"Surely you can't have given up on your trainer, too." He asked. Carter shook his head.

"I haven't given up. I'm just unsure if running after them is a good thing."

"Yeah, I mean we might get lost." Ely joined in. Chopper suddenly jumped forwards and tackled the small yellow psychic pokémon to the ground. He punched at him furiously.

"Cowards!" He shouted. Suddenly he was lifted of his teammate as Kadabra used his telekinesis to carry him away. Chopper kept thrashing in his grip, desperate to be free. "Put me down!" He shouted. Kadabra shook his head.

"Not till you calm down." He insisted. Ralph rolled his eyes. This was going great. Barely a minute of talking and already a fight had broken out. Now Staryu was joining in.

"We shouldn't go after them. They're probably gone already." It announced. This got a glare from most of the others.

"Your trainer's is still here. You don't get to say that. You have nothing to lose from this." Crash reminded it. Staryu looked up at him, no visible expression on it at all.

"We can't just stand around here arguing. We need to do something. We need to help." Pitt butted in. Cinders nodded in agreement.

"Joe, Rocky and Tom have all helped us. We should go find them." He boomed. Mina stepped up, looking a little worried.

"I don't want Rocky to be hurt." She whimpered. "I…I couldn't stand it if…" She began crying. Pippy rushed over to her and hugged her, his bodily static being absorbed into her skin and neutralised.

"They're probably not hurt." Stream added, now joining in himself. "They may have just got lost. Either way we should so something." Another argument broke out as Pitt and Cinders were trying to keep back the angry comments from Kadabra and Staryu. Weepinbell and Wartortle, who had for most of the conversation been silent, now turned to their newest team mate, Snorlax, who was lying flat on his back behind them and snoring peacefully.

"Hey Snorlax, what do you think about this?" Weepinbell asked. Snorlax opened a tired eye and looked down at them.

"Huh?"He asked in his slow but booming voice.

"Should we go and find our trainer or should we stay here and wait?" Wartortle asked. Snorlax thought for a few seconds before answering.

"I think we should all go back to sleep." He yawned and rolled over onto his side, beginning to snore again. Wartortle and Weepinbell rolled their eyes in annoyance. Behind them the fight was continuing.

"Chopper, just calm down a minute." Crash was trying to say but Chopper was not listening. He cleared out and entire circle around him, making sure that none of the others came near him.

"No, I won't calm down!" He shouted. "I'm going to go find Rocky, even if you won't!" Finally Ralph could take it no longer. He opened his mouth and screamed.

"STOP IT!" He screeched. Everyone fell silent. All eyes turned to him, surprised by his sudden outburst. He breathed in heavily, his anger subsiding slightly. "This arguing isn't helping! While were stand around here deciding what to do our trainers are out there lost and alone. They could be, lost or in trouble or maybe even dying… But we owe it to them to go find them." He turned and looked around the group, pointing at each of them one by one. "Chopper you need to calm down. Getting angry won't help us find Rocky." He then turned to Kadabra. "And you. Stop trying to convince us they're gone. You may think your super smart but you can't see the future. You don't know they're dead!" Kadabra didn't even seem to care that he was being told of. He just folded his arms, grumpily. Ralph kept on turning round the group. "Staryu you have no right to tell any of us that our trainers don't care because we know your trainer is safe and sound here. Don't be a hypocrite." Staryu grumbled something illegible. Ralph looked around again, seeing Pippy and Mina hugging. "Mina, you don't need to cry. We'll find Rocky, I promise that." Mina wiped a tear from her eye.

"Thank you." She mumbled. Ralph smiled kindly at her. Pippy turned to him now, a look of determination on his face.

"We should do something soon." He told him, calmly.

"I will." Ralph reassured him. "Once everyone's calmed down I'll go looking for them myself."

"I'd like to come with you if that's ok." Pippy offered. Ralph nodded.

"Yeah, that's fine. I could use the help actually." He told him.

"I'm coming, too." Another voice called out. Ralph turned to see Nami had stepped forwards towards him. "I don't care if it's scary or not. Joe's my friend. I know he would come looking for me if I was lost." Ralph nodded.

"Ok." He turned to the rest of the group. "Anyone else who wants to help us find our trainers, raise your hand." He called. Only three other hands rose up from the group. One of them was Choppers who was only too delighted to finally be going to look for his friend. The others were Wartortle and Mina who didn't seem as excited. Ralph looked around the rest of the group. "Really? No one else?" He asked. He turned to Pitt and Cinders. "I thought you too said you wanted to help find Joe." He asked. The two fully evolved starter pokémon looked sheepishly at each other.

"Well we do." Cinder told him. "It's just that someone should stay to look after the rest of the group."

"Yeah. I don't think it would be a good Idea to leave Kadabra or Staryu in command, do you." Pitt joined in. Ralph nodded, a little saddened but he understood.

"Ok then." He turned to Carter now.

"I don't really want to go on a wild search right now to be honest." He explained, also a little embarrassed. "But don't worry, I'll help keep peace here and if you don't come back I'll lead another scout party to come find you." Ralph nodded in agreement. He turned back to Rocky's team of pokémon.

"And what about you lot?" He asked. Crash stepped up first.

"I don't like forests." He said simply. Ely nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, neither do I. There's always bugs flying around in them, it's nasty." Ralph sighed.

"That's an awful excuse." He told them. He then sighed. "Could you at least look after Mina for us while we're gone?" He asked. They nodded. Mina looked surprised.

"I thought I was coming with you." She complained. Ralph gulped.

"No, it might be dangerous. You're still too young. You may get hurt." Mina looked sad but she nodded in agreement.

"Oh, ok." She sighed. Ralph now turned to the group of flying types that had sat to the side of the group and had not said anything during the entire event.

"And what about you lot?" He asked. All three birds turned their heads to him.

"Sorry but we're not interested." Fearow told him. Joe raised an eyebrow.

"What, you don't care about your trainers?" Ralph asked, surprised. "You could really help in the search. If you were to fly over the forest you could spot them in seconds." They simply blinked at him.

"We couldn't care less about what our trainers get up to." Gargoyle explained, flicking his wing tip. "Least of all the pretentious worries of a pampered pet like you." Ralph was stunned.

"I'm not pretentious!" He told them, feeling hurt. "And I'm not a pet!"

"Go away already." Zephyr snapped, looking slightly bothered. "If you want to go help your friends be our guest. Just don't drag us into it all." Ralph snorted and turned away.

"Alright." He decided. "Let's go then. The rest of you stay here and wait for us. If we're not back in an hour send out someone to look for us." And with that he glided off, followed by Chopper, Pippy, Nami and Wartortle as they headed for the glass doorway.

**_(Thank you for using the Pokedex 1.0's translation system. Your device will now deactivate.)_**

Winter looked up to see a small group of pokémon heading for the door, lead by Ralph, Joe's Crobat partner.

"Where are they going?" She wonders. She quickly got up and ran after them in an attempt to stop them but by the then they had already made it through the doorway. She rushed after them, plopping River down on the ground near the rest of the pokémon and Lucky following after her. It didn't take her long to catch up with them at their current speed. "Ralph! Stop!" She shouted as she ran through the now opened doorway. Ralph stopped and looked back, causing the others to stop and look back as well. His expression was that of annoyed confusion. Winter stopped running and began to slowly pant, getting her breath back quickly. "Where are you all going? You can't just wander of alone. What if Team Rocket turns up or those thugs come back?" She told them. All five pokémon looked at each other then returned a confirming stare at Winter. He began speaking but she couldn't understand him. She did not speak pokémon. "Look, you should all head back inside and wait. I'm sure that Joe, Tom and Rocky will be back soon. If we go running of we could easily get lost ourselves. Come on." She gestured back to the pokémon centre and was about to turn around when suddenly Lucky began tugging at her side. Winter looked down at the egg shaped nurse pokémon. "What's is it?" She asked, sounding a little exhausted. Lucky began pointing at the others, speaking in poke-speech, then at the forest, her expression looking grim and concerned. "I… I don't understand." Winter told her, unsurely. Lucky sighed but didn't get frustrated. She let go of Winter and stepped away, joining the sides of the other pokémon as they stood before her, still wanting to go and find their friends. "Not you to!" Winter moaned, feeling that she was being dragged yet again into another job she didn't want to have to do. All six pokémon didn't back down. They just stood there before her, either standing defiantly or giving her pleading expressions. There wasn't any way she was going to be able to convince them. She sighed and gave in "Oh all right." She told them, feeling actually slightly relieved for not having to fight them anymore. "But I'm coming with you. They're my friends too and someone needs to make sure they're ok. Just don't go running off without telling me, okay?" She instructed. All six pokémon gave a small cheer and hugged her gratefully. Already she had taken on the role of mothering them. They started pulling her along by the arms towards the forest where Joe and the others had gone. "Ok, Ok, slow down! Stop pulling!" She snapped, tugging her arms free from their grip but they still persisted to push her forwards, Wartortle using his large shell back to push her from behind and Chopper grabbing her arm and dragging her along from the front. Pippy ran up her arm and sat securely on her shoulder, pointing off in the direction of the forest and seemingly shouting some kind of war cry-like command. As a small group they hurried on, heading towards their friends who at this moment in time were not consciously in their world.

Joe kept running on and on through the empty whiteness, never stopping, never slowing. The house and the creature that had attacked him was long gone now, even he could sense that but the fear it's presence had created was so strong that it was forcing him to keep running till they were the furthest away it was possible to be. No real thoughts had crossed his mind except that he needed to get out. Finally, after what seemed like hours of tireless running he finally stopped, dropping to his knees and holding his head. His brain was stinging and boiling hot, almost like a headache except much more acute and the pain was all over his brain rather than near the front. He wined and tried to calm himself down but the mixture of fear and pain concocted up an overwhelming amount of despair. He tapped his head on the nonexistent ground before him.

"Gyaaaaaah!" He roared, slamming his forehead down. "What is happening? Where am I?" He shouted and hit his head again on the floor. It bounced back harmlessly as it hit nothing. He sighed and stood up. The pain was not going to go away. Somehow he found himself forgetting about it, pushing the sharp, nauseating shudders to the back of his mind and looking around the huge vast white emptiness. It was so weird, so white, so dangerously beautiful. How could somewhere this empty yet this vast exist? "Where am I?" Joe asked again, this time saying it normally rather than screaming it in pain. But no one responded. There was no one around. Not for miles of this land had he seen anyone or anything at all. There wasn't a soul alive. "I'm all alone." He realised, starting to feel the sadness returning to him. "Wherever here is." He added. Suddenly he could hear a faint crying from somewhere. It wasn't possible to pinpoint where as the cry seemed to echo off invisible walls all around him. At first it was too faint to make out but after a few seconds it got a little louder and continued to do so. Joe cocked an ear. The crying was recognisable to him.

"Joe." He heard in a seemingly whispered voice. Joe gulped. He wasn't sure who it was calling him but after his first experience at his house he didn't want to find out so much. The voice was getting closer. "Joe." It whispered. "Joe. Joe. Joe!" It was getting louder… or closer. Joe spun around, trying to find where the voice was coming from. Finally he stopped, his face turning white with fear. A figure was standing in the distance. A humanoid figure of some kind holding a long but thin hand in the air. Joe stepped back. The figure moved closer. Then it began to run towards him. "Joe!" The voice called around. It sounded like someone he knew. Joe felt the urge to run welling up in his body, demanding that he turn around and sprint the other way but he did not. He held his ground. The figure began to get closer now. As it did it became clear that whoever it was coming towards him was not the thing from before. He could see pale white skin and black hair. A boy the same age as him in fact. Then, finally, he saw who the figure was.

"Tom?" He called. The figure waved at him again, clearly realising that Joe had seen him, too.

"Joe!" It called. It was only a few metres away now, seemingly running up an invisible bank. Joe dropped his thoughts and ran towards it, a delighted smile on his face.

"Tom!" He shouted, so happy he could punch the nonexistent sky. "You can't believe how glad I am to see you!" He laughed. The two friends collided in a short reunion hug before immediately shooting questions at one another. "How are you here?" Joe asked.

"How am I here? How are you here?" Tom retorted, sounding just as baffled. "Where even is here?"

"I don't know. But I woke up inside my house. Something strange attacked me and I ran only to find myself trapped here." Joe told him. Tom gave him a slightly worried look.

"That's odd. I had exactly the same thing happen to me." He told him. "I suddenly woke up at my house. My mom had made breakfast and everything seemed normal. Then I said I wanted to go see professor oak and she suddenly became furious. I had to break down the door to escape. After that I just kept running. Then I saw you. What the bloody hell's going on here?" He exclaimed. The two boys looked around. There was nothing, literally nothing in any direction except for blank whiteness. They had no idea where they were, what direction they were standing in or even if they were standing the right side up at all. There were no walls or floors anywhere to say otherwise.

"There's no clue for us to read anywhere." Joe realised, sitting down on the nonexistent ground, feeling slightly depressed. Tom stood beside him.

"Maybe we should try and remember why we are here. What were we doing before we got here?" He asked. Joe lifted his head, trying to think. Small fragments of memory floated around in his mind.

"I… remember…" he struggled, trying to pull the thoughts together and make a link. "I remember… arriving on Three Island. There were a group of thugs harassing a shop clerk. We battled them and they ran away but our pokémon were hurt."

"Yeah, I remember that. They were too weak to chase after the thugs and they got away. We took them to the pokémon centre and healed them up." Tom recalled. Joe closed his eyes, trying to concentrate.

"Then something happened. Someone rushed in upset. They said something about… about… a girl. We set of alone, you and me and…" He gasped and stood up again. "Where's Rocky?" He asked, looking around frantically for his other companion. Tom looked at him then began searching around as well, the same concerned expression jumping from one face to the other.

"I don't know. I haven't seen him at all. Not since we got here." Tom told him. Then he stopped, his face turning white and his blood freezing cold. "I remember." He said suddenly. "We were heading to Berry Forest. We had just entered and we walked around for a couple of minutes looking for a lost little girl when suddenly we were jumped by a large yellow pokémon and then… We woke up here." He stopped. He turned his expression towards Joe, looking dread filled. "Joe. I don't think this is real. I think we're trapped in a dream." He said simply, a cold fear filled tone in his voice.

"A dream?" Joe asked, staring at him. Tom nodded. It all made such weird sense.

"In my dream a yellow figure tried to attack me. I only saw its hand but I partially recognised it. At the time I didn't know why but I can make a good guess that we are being kept in a nightmare state by a psychic pokémon of some kind. At this intensity and with these scenarios it seems like the likely candidate would be a hypno." Joe shook his head violently; trying to make sense of everything he was being told.

"Sorry but I don't think I understand. You're saying that none of this is real?" He asked. Tom shook his head. "Nothing?" Joe asked again. Tom continued to shake his head. "But if that's true why does all this feel real?" He asked. Tom shrugged.

"I don't know. Maybe it's so we don't fight back against it while it steals our life force from us." He suggested. Joe gave him a light shove, annoyed that he had suggested they were dying right now. "Sorry." Tom apologised.

"Well if this is a dream how do we get out?" Joe asked. Tom didn't know how to answer him. There was no obvious solution.

"Maybe if we can find Rocky." Tom suggested suddenly. "If we can find him we may be able to find a way to escape. It's the only real option we have." There was a long hesitant silence. Finally Joe shrugged and sighed, realising that there was in fact no better option.

"Alright." He sighed, straightening up. "Where do we find him?" He wondered. Suddenly, out of nowhere a door materialised in front of them. The door looked to be made of a thin wood and was painted red with a golden doorknob. The two boys looked cautiously at it, unsure whether they wanted to go near it at all. Joe took a quick look at the back of the door only to see that it was the exact same as the front. There was nothing new behind the doorway at all, at least while it was closed.

"Door to nowhere." Tom muttered quietly to himself. Joe tilted his head slightly, unsure what he was looking at.

"Should we go through?" He asked. Tom shrugged.

"Well it's either that or we stand around here forever." He told his friends. "Besides, it may lead to a possible way to escape." He stepped forwards, grabbed the golden metal door handle and pulled it open.

The white world around them blurred, pixelated and morphed into colour. The door swung open and on the other side was a park. A small row of oak trees lined the edges of the park as a small group of children around the age of twelve stood circled around something in between them. Around them the entire park was completely destroyed. Swings lying on their side, the metal chains shattered on the grass. A set of monkey swings were slashed in half with a huge gaping hole in the middle of them. A climbing frame stood in ruin, most of the wood making it either burned away or damaged beyond repair. The ground itself had been dug up all around where something had charged through it, turning most of the field into a wreck of mud and earth. All around police and firemen were trying to resolve the problem, using water pokémon to douse the flames and trying to figure out what had happened. As Joe and Tom stepped through the full scene became visible to them. They looked around in real shock.

"What on earth are we looking at?" Tom asked, bewildered. They saw that to the far left of the children a large rock pokémon lay unconscious on the field, policemen and Pokémon protectors trying to lift it up and take it away. The pokémon seemed to be a rhydon, judging by the large horn on its nose, grey hide, long grey tail, two small arms and large fat legs.

"Looks like that thing went on a rampage." Joe realised, pointing at the Rhydon as it was dragged away. Suddenly one of the kids standing in the circle started shouting.

"Look what you've done, you idiot!" He shouted, viciously at something lying in between the circle. All of the children were looking down furiously at whatever it was. Another boy started shouting now.

"You destroyed the park! Why do you have to be so stupid?" He shouted. Another voice, one that Joe found himself recognising, cried out, upset and in pain.

"I…It wasn't my fault. I didn't know it would go on a rampage." They complained. Then one of the boys kicked them and there was a cry of pain.

"You stupid idiot, Stone!" He shouted. "Now none of us have anywhere to play anymore. You really did it this time." Then they all began kicking, striking the person on the floor between them and causing them to cry out even more.

"I'm Sorry!" He shouted. "Leave me alone! Please!" The boys didn't hold back. They kept kicking and kicking, never even considering stopping.

"This'll teach you not to try and pet wild pokémon. You're stupid, Rocky!" One of them shouted. Joe's eyes widened.

"Rocky" he gasped. He turned to Tom. "We need to do something to help, now." He declared. Tom nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, but what? If this is Rocky's dream we may not be able to interfere. Besides we don't have our pokémon with us and we ourselves don't know anything about fighting."

"I know a little." Joe told him. "Don, the Dojo master in Saffron taught me. That's where I got Carter from." He explained. Without waiting for Tom to say anymore he ran forwards and tried to solve the problem. He grabbed one of the children to pull them away but found his hand went straight through them as if they didn't exist. He couldn't touch anything around him. He looked down at his hand. "Strange." He muttered.

"Looks like we can't touch anything." Tom realised. "So what now?" The kids were starting to get a lot more violent now, kicking and punching Rocky all over, keeping him pinned to the ground.

"You moron!" They shouted, their words turning vile and cruel. "Queer boy! Stupid! Moron! Failure! Gym Leader Swine!" They chanted. "Why do you have to be so different? Why are you not normal?" Suddenly the chanting died away. Someone new was walking towards them now. He was slightly tanned skinned with light brown hair waiving in the mild summer air. His pale brown long sleeved shirt with crossed Sandslash claws rustled about in the air as he walked toward the circle. A small sandshrew followed behind him, looking sad. The boy stepped up in front of Rocky who lay battered and bruised on the ground before him. The kids had moved aside, allowing Joe and Tom to see him properly finally. He looked younger then they remembered him to be, at least three years younger. He still had the same hair and eyes but his clothing was a little different. He was taller and paler than his friend with brown eyes and very dark brown hair. Instead of his dark brown shirt with an Onix tail crossing the centre and grey hoodie he had a short sleeved red shirt with a pokéball printed on the centre and thin school grey trousers. Beside him lay a small brown school bag which had been searched and pulled apart by the other kids who were wearing similar clothing to him. He didn't have the small facial details that his teenage state had and his cheeks were wrinkled from crying. The new boy, who was maybe a year younger then Rocky and the others stopped before him, looking down unhappily.

"What on earth happened here?" He asked. The kids turned sheepish, rubbing their palms awkwardly.

"Nothing, Gordon. We were just telling your brother of for destroying the park." One kid spoke up. Gordon glanced quickly at him then back at Rocky.

"Is that true?" He asked. Rocky nodded, sadly.

"I'm sorry." He muttered. Gordon put his arms on his side, disapprovingly.

"I should think so. Look at the mess you made!" He snapped suddenly. Joe narrowed his eyebrows.

"That didn't sound like Gordon." He whispered to Tom who was watching confused. "Gordon would never shout at Rocky. Even I could see that. I've seen them both together. He's a very calm guy. He wouldn't shout at his brother like that."

"What are you suggesting?" Tom asked. "That that's not Gordon Stone?" Joe nodded slightly.

"Maybe." He suggested. Suddenly Gordon burst out again.

"How could you do this to us, Rocky? Dishonouring our family in this way. Making me look like a fool for having to drag you out of yet another problem you've caused for people. You're a disgrace. A failure as a trainer and a human being." He crossed his arms, malicious fire escaping from his gaze. "I'm ashamed to call you my brother!" He said.

"Don't say that." Rocky whimpered. A small tear fell from his eye. "Please Gordon. Don't say that." Gordon smiled out of the corner of his mouth.

"It's true! You know it! You're a failure at being anything. You can't just be normal like me and dad and Cousin Steve. Did you play with action figures or pokémon toys when you were young? No! You played with dolls in dollhouses! Like a little girl!" Rocky began to pour tears from his eyes. "Instead of running tracks or playing football with other boys you prefer to play pretend with Anna and Clara and Louise in the schoolyard! You've never been a boy! You've never been my brother! You've never been human!" Rocky cried, furious rivers of tears pouring from his eyes.

"Leave me alone!" He whispered weakly, burying his head in the dirt. Gordon suddenly threw his head back and cackled. His voice suddenly turned into that of the creature that had attacked Joe, sounding demonic and malicious intended.

"NOW I HAVE YOU!" he screamed his terrifying cackled cracking the sky above him, literally. "NOW YOU ARE MINE, FOREVER!"

"Hey, ugly!" Joe shouted suddenly, furious anger flooding through him. Seeing his friend being tortured in such a way was more than enough to aggravate him to the point of acting. To his and Tom's surprise Gordon suddenly turned to face him. As he did so his form began to change, becoming taller and thicker. His arms elongated and his fingers grew fatter, becoming short and pointed. His skin turned psychic yellow and in one hand a long strand of string fell down, a small circular stone with a hole in the middle hanging of it. On Gordon's face his nose had grown out till it was twice the length it had been, becoming bulbous and pointed. White fur burst out around his neck, creating a short ring of hair under his chin. His eyes turned white with tiny black pupils and his hair fell away, revealing two pointed ears on the top of his head. The new creature that stood before them glared at the two trainers, its eyes narrowing viciously as it took in every little detail about them.

"YOU!" It screamed as it saw Joe. Joe cracked his knuckles and glared back.

"Remember me do you?" He mocked. He then readied a fist. "Let my friend go!" He demanded.

"NEVER!" The creature replied, raising its own hand up.

"A Hypno!" Tom exclaimed, surprised. "That explains everything. Look out for its psychic attacks. While we're here in its mind it could do anything, even reshape the environment to its will." He warned.

"Well thanks for telling me that…" Joe started, not sounding too happy. Suddenly the ground around them began to shudder and shatter. Huge pillars of earth burst up around them, trapping them where they were in a huge dome of earth and stone. The children disappeared in a flash and Rocky sat up. He looked normal again, tear stains still on his cheeks but he was older and wearing his usual cloths again. The Hypno put its arms back down and continued to stair evilly at the boys before it. "But I think you just told _it_ how much power it had, as well." Joe continued.

"Ah." Tom agreed. Hypno readied an attack now, pink psychic energy swelling up in its fingers.

"NOW YOU DIE!" It screamed and released the attack, sending a small wave of psychic energy flying out towards them. Quickly Joe and Tom jumped aside narrowly avoiding being hit by the attack which struck the great rock wall behind them and shattered.

"That was too close." Tom coughed, rock dust spewing up around where he landed and catching in his throat. Joe glared up at the hypno which was readying another attack. Without even considering the danger he stood up and rushed in to attack. "Joe, No!" Tom called but it was too late. Joe had already begun to run, pulling back his arm and clenching his fist to strike the hypno in the face. As he rushed in Hypno released another psychic attack, hitting Joe straight in the face but not stopping him. He kept running, a loud growl coming from his clenched jaw. Suddenly his hand began to glow bright white like a mega punch. Tom gasped in surprised, even Hypno looked shocked as it was struck in the face by the attack and sent flying far backwards into the rock dome and crashed straight through it. Joe stared at the cracked humanoid hole where Hypno had landed and smiled smugly before turning around and seeing Tom's expression.

"What?" Joe asked, naively. Tom just continued to stare at him, jaw dropped.

"How did you do that?" He asked, perplexed. Joe narrowed his eyebrows perplexed.

"How'd I do what?" He asked, raising his hand up to scratch his forehead. Then he jumped back in surprise, seeing that it was glowing. "What?" He asked, astounded.

"What is that?" Tom continued, stepping forwards and taking Joe's hand, looking it over but seeing no real cause of the light. "Looks like you just used a Mega Punch." He noted. Joe looked up at him.

"How could I do that? I'm not a pokémon." He stuttered, still quite surprised.

"Maybe it's one of the effects of being in a dream world." Tom realised. "You can allow yourself to do things you normally couldn't do?" Joe shrugged. Suddenly they heard rocks falling away behind them. They turned to see Hypno pulling itself out of the rock and running back towards them, furious red eyes agleam.

"Maybe we should use this ability to stop it." Joe suggested, a cheeky smile on his face. Tom smiled back, raising his own glowing fist.

"I thought you'd never ask." He laughed. Then they both charged, fists raised towards the Hypno opposing them. There was an explosion of bright white light and Hypno was sent flying even further back, landing heavily on the rock floor and digging it up as he sailed downwards for several miles. Joe and Tom high fived quickly before turning back to Rocky who sat head in hands a few feet away. They rushed over to his side, hearing his crying getting louder.

"Rocky?" Joe asked, kneeling down beside his friend, trying to grab his attention. Rocky didn't respond. Joe tried again, shaking him by the shoulder. "Rocky, can you hear me. You need to wake up. It's me, Joe." Rocky moved a finger, revealing his tear filled blood shot eye.

"Joe?" He asked. Joe nodded, a kind smile crossing his face. "Why are you here?"

"We came to save you." Tom told him. "We're all stuck in a dream. We need to find a way to escape and we're not leaving you behind." Rocky sighed, depressed.

"Save me. Why would you want to save me? I imagine you saw what happened here. I'm useless. Pointless. Have no reason to be. Why would anyone look out for me?" He asked, tears falling from his eyes again.

"Because you're our friend." Joe told him, moving Rocky's arms from his face now and looking into his eyes. "We care about you and we aren't going to leave you here any longer so that that thing can torture you more. So get up, we're going." He snapped and pulled on Rocky's are, trying to lift him onto his feet. Rocky did not stand up; he just sat there, looking at the floor.

"You're lying to make me feel better." He cried. "You don't really care. I'm so stupid I can't even help myself. I've done nothing for our group since I've joined. All I've managed to do is attract trouble through my sheer idiocy. I'm so useless to anyone."

"You're not useless." Joe told him. "You've done loads for us during your time in our group. You took in Mina when she needed a caretaker. You helped me learn to become a stronger trainer. You helped us fight back against Team Rocket. You kept us all fed and healthy. You've done so much and you just can't see it. You're brilliant!" Joe smiled, patting Rocky's shoulder. Rocky just looked away.

"But I'm not normal." He replied. "I don't act like a normal boy should. I've never been interested in pokémon battling or sports or war or action films or brawling or anything like that. I can't take care of pokémon. I can't stand up to bullies. I've never even been interested in girls. I'm… I'm not…" He sniffed. "I'm not heterosexual. I'm a creep! A freak! Even my own family doesn't want me. Why would you want to help me?" Joe sighed, tilting his hat of his head.

"Because you're our friend." Joe told him, staring him sternly in the eye. "You're _my_ friend. I don't care if you're a good fighter or not, if you're confident or not, if you're smart or not, or if your even straight or not. You're my friend." He stood up straight. "And friends look out for each other. They don't turn their backs on one another. And most importantly they don't leave their friends suffering. You didn't do that to me so I'm not doing it to you." He held out a firm hand "So get up!" Rocky looked up at him, his tears drying away now. A smile began to grow on his face. He reached up his own arm and took Joe's hand. Joe smiled down at him. "Good." He said, pulling Rocky to his feet and standing before him. Rocky rubbed the back of his head, sheepishly.

"Thank you." He said, gratefully. Joe just smiled and patted him on the shoulder.

"It's ok. You did the same for me back in Lavender town" He told him. Rocky smiled back.

"I'd just like to say that, even though you know my predicament, I hope that doesn't affect our friendship in any way." He told him, nodding suggestively. Joe realised what he meant and wave a hand dismissively.

"Don't worry. I don't care what you are. You're still my friend." He told him. He was quite surprised to find that Rocky had suddenly hugged him, tightly, a small tear falling from his eye.

"Thank you." He whispered, a slight sob escaping from his voice. Joe felt a little uncomfortable but didn't act so for Rocky's sake.

"Ok, hugging." Joe smiled and patted him on the back. "It's okay." He smiled. He glanced at Tom who was standing a few feet away, smiling at him, almost making a joke of it. Joe waved his hand to shoo him away, giving him a disapproving glare. There was a sudden scrabbling of claws on rock as the group turned to see the Hypno pulling itself out of the ground. It stood up and roared, spreading out its arms and releasing an ear piercing screech. Its eyes had turned blood red and a light pink aura glowed around it. Then it began to charge, speeding towards them like an enraged tauros. The three humans turned to each other and smiled. Without even communicating one word they all raised a glowing fist up and charged in as well. All four figures ran on, meeting in the middle with their attacks. When they collided the entire dome was filled with pure blinding white light, then blackness.

Joe jolted awake suddenly, followed by Tom and Rocky a split second later. They looked down, checked their bodies, and found that they were still alive. They were not, however, in the same place they had been. They were currently lying on grassy forest floor looking up through the trees at the darkening afternoon sky. Above them leaves were turning red and brown and falling of their branches. They all looked around and realised.

"We're alive." Joe whispered, standing onto his feet and looking around. They were in fact back in the real world, located currently near the centre of Berry Forest. Suddenly the three of them burst into cheering. They hugged each other and jumped for joy.

"We're alive!" They cried and slapped each other backs, glad to be free of that nightmare. Suddenly they heard angry shouting coming from not too far away. They looked around and saw a Team Rocket Elite standing a few metres away, an unconscious Hypno lying at his feet and a young girl held in his arms, struggling to escape. It was the exact same Rocket Elite that had lead the group Joe had run into in the Safari Zone. He was quite clearly not happy to see them anymore then they were to see him.

"God damn it!" He shouted. "You again!" How did you escape from that? Hypno has never been defeated in a dream! Never!" The girl began screaming now.

"Let go of me!" She shouted, struggling in the man's grip. "Help!

"Shut it, you pest!" The Elite leader snapped, raising a hand to slap her. Then he put his arm down again and glared at the three boys, cracking his neck. "Never mind." At least I have back up." He clicked a finger and suddenly four more Rocket Elites stepped out of the forest and stood beside him. Following them were a Vileplume, a Butterfree, a Parasect, a Muk and a Sandslash. They surrounded the three trainers in a large circle filled with holes. Joe, Tom and Rocky looked at each other.

"I don't think the mega punch is going to work here." Tom told them, simply. They nodded in agreement. The Elites stepped forwards, closing the gap around the boys. Then, suddenly, a large group of at least six different pokémon burst through the shrubbery around them, immediately attacking the Rockets and taking them by surprise. A long purple wing struck one Elite in the face. A grey fist lashed out at the Butterfree and hit it backwards, causing some damage. Joe and the others gasped. They recognised the faces that were saving them.

"Ralph!" Joe exclaimed, glad to see his friends. "Nami! Pippy!" His pokémon turned and smiled at him, glad to see he was okay. Rocky and Tom too saw their pokémon.

"Chopper!" Rocky called.

"Wartortle!" Tom called. Both their pokémon saw them and waved, happily. Suddenly a seventh figure made its way out through the grass. They looked around, saw the three boys and held out their hands, crying in delight.

"Joe!" Winter shouted, gladly. "Tom! Rocky! You're all okay!" She rushed forwards and hugged Joe, taking him by surprise. He hugged her back, looking slightly stunned. Suddenly she pushed herself away, looking slightly uncomfortable. "Uh, sorry." She muttered. Then she dusted down his jumper. "Are you all ok? What happened to you?" She asked. Joe shrugged unsurely.

"Where do I begin?" He told her. Suddenly Pippy landed a few feet away, beaten quite badly. Lucky was quickly at his side, healing him up using her eggs full of health healing liquid. The four humans looked up at the battle. It was not going well. As it had turned out the elites were much stronger then they had been last time. Another pokémon crashed to the ground; Tom's Wartortle. He had been slashed down by the Parasect's pincer and knocked unconscious. Meanwhile Ralph was fighting both the Sandslash and Muk while Nami took on Vileplume and Chopper battled with Butterfree. Before chopper could land his attack he was sent flying into a tree from Butterfree's confusion and knocked out in seconds. Only Ralph and Nami were left.

"That's not good." Tom noted. Good it was most definitely not. A second after Tom said such Ralph was struck on the side by Sandslash who had dug up underneath and jumped up, tackling him over and pinning him to the ground. Only Nami was left. She backed up, feeling intimidated as the five opponents circled in on her. The Elite leader began to snicker.

"Looks like you won't be meeting Archer atop Silph Co building tomorrow after all." He muttered, staring at Joe. Joe raised an eyebrow, confused.

"What? Archer? Tomorrow? Silph Co?" He repeated. The leader nodded. That was his plan. If we couldn't stop you he wanted to face you there for one final battle. Looks like he won't need to after all. Say your prayers, boys." He cackled as his pokémon surrounded them

Suddenly, without any warning, a small puddle of pure clean water oozed out of the ground around Nami. It spread out over the clearing, wetting the backs of the unconscious pokémon and the feet of everyone else. Then it began to rise upwards, creating a huge watery wave above them all. The five elites looked up at it, terrified. Their pokémon too looked afraid of what was happening before them. Nami's eyes had turned bright sea blue, her body forcing the water up over the opponent. Then, as quickly as the wall had risen, it fell. The opponent tried to run but couldn't get far enough away to save themselves. The wave hit them like a storm, washing each of them away in its fury, never to be seen again. The leader dropped the girl, trying to swim against the tide but could not do so. He and the rest of his team were swept away through the forest.

"I will get you!" His cries echoed as he disappeared into the trees. The water began to die away again and Nami fell to her knees, her energy drained from her body. The four humans just stood amazed. No one spoke for a few minutes. Then finally Joe managed to pull up the strength to speak. He coughed, rubbed his shoulder and said…

"Well, I'm glad that's over."

Later they finally made it back to the pokémon centre to rest. They didn't plan to go anywhere else that night, even though Joe knew of his confrontation with Archer that was coming tomorrow. They sat in the island's pokémon centre, getting their pokémon back from being healed. Joe had reunited with all his pokémon and hugged them each in turn. Rocky and Tom had done the same with their pokémon. The four trainers, Bill, The young girl, called Loretta, and her father stood around, talking. The father was currently smothering his daughter, over the moon to see her again, while thanking Joe, Rocky, Winter and Tom for saving her. Outside the sun had just set.

"Thank you so much for the help." He said to them. "You don't know how much she means to me. If you hadn't stopped those rockets I don't know what they'd have done to her." He handed Joe a small amount of money and walked out of the pokémon centre. The girl sat in his arms and waved back at them, smiling. The group waved back. As the glass doors shut they turned back to each other.

"So what now?" Rocky asked.

"Now we get to Saffron City!" Joe told them firmly. "If Archer wants' to fight me then he will get what he's looking for."

"You should be careful, Joe." Tom warned him. "He's stronger then he looks and I don't think you've seen everything he can do yet. Who knows what he has up his sleeve. Why else would he want to fight you?" Joe shrugged. It was a little suspicious.

"I don't have a choice, Tom." He explained. "I need to stop Team Rocket now. If I don't then they can put their plans into motion and they'll take over Kanto. Then no one will be able to stop them. They have to be fought against now or it's all over for us." Tom nodded respectfully.

"I understand." He explained. Then he tapped his fingers together. "I'm sorry but I can't be there to help you. I'm needed elsewhere." Joe stared surprised at him.

"What? Why?" He asked. Tom scratched his neck, sheepishly.

"Professor Oak wants me to help him solve a problem at the lab. He has a rather unhappy Absol staying there right now and he's struggling to find an owner for it." Joe sighed, slightly disappointed.

"Ok, go ahead." He told him. Tom didn't look happy about it. He walked over to the doorway as the glass slid open.

"Good luck." Tom called back, sadly as he walked out into the growing dark. Joe sighed and turned back to the others.

"We should go soon." Winter told them. "If Team Rocket wants to meat us we shouldn't leave them waiting." Joe smiled and nodded in agreement.

"I couldn't agree more." He told her. Just as he was about to turn and go Bill suddenly stopped him.

"Uh, before you go I would like to make a proposition." He told them. Joe stopped, turning to hear what he had to say.

"What would that be?" He asked.

"A trade." Bill told him, straightening up and clenching his hands together composedly. "A pokémon for a pokémon. Specifically your vaporeon." He pointed at Nami who was walking up to them now, a confused expression on her face. Joe looked at her then back at Bill.

"She's not up for offer." He told him simply. Bill began to stutter.

"I'll take good care of her. I love Eevee's and their evolutions. I can take care of her well. I can feed her; keep her healthy, keep her trained. She'll be happy. I promise." Joe inhaled considerately.

"Well I don't doubt you could care for her well." He told him, simply. "But that would leave me without a sixth pokémon. I'm going to need all six to fight team rocket." Bill gave him another offer.

"I can give you one of my rare pokémon to use. She's strong and she's no trouble. She could help you loads in your battle." He explained. Joe sighed.

"What is this pokémon?" He asked.

"A Lapras." Bill explained. "I called her Sirena. She can take Nami's place. You won't regret it, I promise." Bill nodded, trying to persuade him. Joe looked down at Nami again. She looked exhausted, hardly having the strength to stand up. The attack she had made had drained her completely and it didn't look like she'd recover any time soon. Maybe it was the best idea to give her to someone else. She might be killed in the fighting if she didn't. Nami was looking up at him, her feline eyes looking cutely up at him, a concerned expression on her face.

"Give me a minute to think it over." Joe asked. Bill nodded, respectfully.

"Take as long as you need." He told him. Joe knelt down and stroked Nami's head. She purred weakly, her body shaking slightly. She yawned with tiredness and sat down, her eyes dropping. It was clear that she was terribly tired and was hardly going to be able to do any fighting at all for at least a few days. Joe sighed. He didn't want to let her go but maybe it was for the best. Nami looked into his eyes. She knew what he was trying to think over. Even though she didn't want to leave his side she knew why he was considering it.

"Nami?" Joe asked. "Are you happy travelling with me?" Nami looked at him confused, and then nodded. "Ok then." Joe sighed. "Do you think you have the strength to fight against team rocket?" He continued to ask. Nami really wanted to say yes but as she thought it her body began to droop tiredly to the floor as her legs gave way and she gave an exhausted yawn. Slowly she shook her head. Joe sighed sadly. "Then would you be okay if Bill took care of you from now on?" He asked. Nami looked shocked. She looked from Joe to Bill in fear. Fear of losing her friend. "It's not like you think." Joe told her quickly. "It's not that I don't want you. Where I'm going is dangerous and I need my team to be healthy enough to fight and survive. You won't be able to fight right now. They might take advantage and kill you. I want you to be safe and you will be if you stay will Bill." He sighed. He wasn't very good at explaining things. "Look, Nami." He told her, kneeling down and putting his hands on her shoulders, comfortingly. "You've been a great member of my team. You've done so well at everything you've tried. I couldn't have asked for a better water type to have by my side." He patted her on the head. "That's why I want you to be safe. I don't want to lose another pokémon. Please. I know this is tough but do it for me." Nami looked down and sighed, closing her eyes. She cared about Joe. She didn't want to leave him either. But she understood what he meant. She could already feel herself collapsing. as painful as it was for her, Joe had to make a tough decisions. The least she could do was make it easier for him. She looked up and nodded firmly. Joe sighed, a small tear appearing in his eye. "All right." He muttered, a slight whimper escaping his voice. He wiped the tear from his eye. "You are to stay will Bill and live in his house with his other Pokemon from now on. You'll be safe there. Don't worry, I'll speak to you over voice call on the PC every week. Stay safe." He stroked her head adauringly. Then, letting loose his control he hugged her tightly in his amrs, bicking her up and holding her like a puppy. She smiled up at him, her own tears falling as well as they embraced, her head resting on his shoulder. "Be good, ok." He whispered, choking on his sadness. Nami purred, choking herself on her own sorrow. Bill and the others also found that they were struggling to keep themselves from breaking down, too. Finally, without saying another word Joe put Nami back down and stood up, wiping the tears from his eyes. "Ok." He told Bill. "Let's trade."

A few minutes later he, his friends and his pokémon walked out into the night, waving back at Bill. They quickly mounted their flying pokémon and took off into the sky, waving goodbye to Bill and Nami who were waving back. Tears streamed down Nami's eyes as she saw here old trainer flying off into the night. She was sad but not angry. She understood Joe's reason and he clearly wasn't any happier about it. As he flew off into the night Joe rubbed his sore eyes, a small blue great ball seated where Nami's pokéball had been on his belt.


	31. Chapter 31: Taking Back Silph Co

Six hours passed by and Joe had fallen asleep on Ralph's back as he and his friends flew through the air aimed for Saffron city. They hadn't had time to get a ride back to Cinnabar Island which would have taken too long and swimming there was out of the question due to Joe's newest pokémon not having the ability to surf yet. Bill had told him however that it was a water type so he wasn't left open about that. In fact Joe hadn't even seen what his pokémon looked like, only that he knew it was a Lapras, a very rare ancient water pokémon found in the icy seas north of Kanto. He hopped that he hadn't made a bad decision choosing to let Nami go. Already he was missing her. He saw all six of his pokémon as a family, brothers and sisters to him and each other. So if one was taken away it would feel like he had lost a sibling. Nami had not always been the strongest of his pokémon but she had been reliable as well as one of the most determined in his group and when she needed to she could be a force to be reckoned with. And now she was living with a man she hardly knew. Joe stirred in his sleep and pulled his jacket over him more, trying to warm himself up in the colder upper atmosphere night air. Ralph looked back to check on him and smiled slightly. His friend was clearly shattered from the fighting, the travelling, the nightmares and the crying from having to give up one of his own again. Ralph too felt exhausted but he wasn't willing to show it. He knew what was coming and he knew that if they were going to win he would have to give his all, no matter the cost to himself. Joe was the most important thing to him right now and his protection was what needed to be confirmed. The words that the Golbat had told him began to echo through his mind again. '_Your master is returning to Kanto. Five days from now he will arrive. And when that happens nothing will stop him from taking back his rightful crown and his faithful lapdog.' _Those five days had passed now. Midnight had gone about an hour and a half ago. Ralph only hoped that when the creature said five days that it didn't mean five days exactly to the hour. If he had already returned then there would be nothing they could do… nothing any of them could do to stop him. Ralph remembered his old master well. The constant abuse, the hatred, the anger, the… tests. He shuddered, nearly dropping about five feet lower before stopping himself and reattaching to the gust of air he was gliding on. Joe twitched slightly but did not wake. Ralph sighed with relief. This was likely the only point in the entire day when Joe was going to get a rest and it was best to let him have such. Beside Ralph Zephyr reappeared carrying Winter on his back. She too had dozed off against his neck and was lying with her head buried in his neck plumage. Ralph smiled reassuringly over at him. Zephyr looked but did not smile back. He just fell back and followed behind him, letting Ralph lead him in the direction they needed to go. Behind him Gargoyle also appeared, Rocky too asleep against his shoulder blades, resting up before the storm. Ralph sighed to himself. What it was that was coming, whatever it was they needed to do… he only hoped that they would come back out of it still alive.

Another couple of hours passed and finally, after using up all their energy just to make it home, they finally reached dry land again and made their way on the Saffron city which would only be another half an hour's flight away from Fuchsia beach. Not wanting to waste any time they continued on. Ralph quickly woke Joe by tapping him with one wing and showed him where they were, about 40 miles from Saffron City's south gate.

"Nearly there?" Joe asked, yawning tiredly and covering his mouth with one hand while stretching with the other. "Alright. When you see Saffron city's light bring us down. We'll find the Silph Co building from the ground." He told them. As it turned out he didn't even need to search for it. As Saffron city came into view the giant skyscraper building that was Silph Co stood illuminated near its centre. Huge neon letters flashed down the sides of the giant glass building simply reading 'Silph Corporations' while bright searchlights wavered around on the roof, lighting up the sky above. It all seemed way too convenient.

"That's it there!" Rocky called to the rest of the group, not needing to point. They could all see where he meant. The Silph building stood out like a red gyarados in a pond full of golden magikarp. In many respects it was very much like this as it was as least ten times taller than the smaller houses and office buildings around it, even across the entire city. It stood alone amongst all of them, showing of about how successful it was compared to all the rest.

"Why are they displaying so much light?" Winter wondered. "There's way too much for a simple recognition display." Fireworks suddenly shot up from the rooftop. When they exploded they released a cloud of red glitter light which hovered in the air and created a large R in the sky. Joe growled under his breath. The monsters were showing off. They were luring him towards them as if they wanted them to be there.

"Team Rocket. They want us to come to them. So they're giving us a display." He gritted his teeth. "Well we'll give them more than an encore." He snarled and tugged on Ralph's side, commanding him to fly up and around the roof top. Winter and Rocky followed on Zephyr and Gargoyle's back after him. As they shot up above the flat roof of the giant building of technology they were able to see exactly what was going on. At the far end of the roof terrace was a helipad for the helicopters of important business men and managers to land. Around the edges of the roof stood a large line of grunts, each carrying rifles in their arms and watching as the three flying pokémon soared higher up and over the roof. A bit further away from the helipad, still clad in his long flickering white cloak and face mask stood Archer, the leader of Team Rocket, and a few feet away from him his two commanders stood aside, looking slight sorry for themselves but still alive by all accounts. And a few feet behind him was… a cannon… or at least something that looked like a cannon. It was golden with red stripes running randomly along the large, almost oval shaped barrel with a huge gaping hole at the end where the ammunition was placed in and fired from. It stood on a large metal set of six mechanical legs which slowly trudged the giant metal beast forwards, closer to the edge of the building. Archer was looking up at the trio, his expression invisible to them from behind his white cloth mask.

"How do we land on there?" Rocky asked as they circled the roof again.

"We don't." Joe called back. "We dive down and make our way up from the inside. Hopefully that way we can surprise them."

"Will that work?" Winter asked.

"It should." Joe replied. "And if it doesn't we can still force our way up from the ins…" He was cut short suddenly, noticing the Archer was doing something. Almost subtly archer had raised an open hand to the air, seemingly waiving at the trio. Then, with no warning, He clenched it into fast and pulled it down as though he was pulling a chain. There was a sudden loud bang as the cannon like device fired, a huge net flying out of the barrel and sailing straight towards them "DIVE!" Joe cried, suddenly, pushing down on Ralph's back and shooting downwards. Rocky and Winter followed suit and disappeared behind the edge, narrowly avoiding being caught in the flying net as it sailed on through the air and landed somewhere else in the city, setting off a few alarms. Archer stepped forwards and looked over the edge, seeing the three trainers land safely on the ground and walk in through the large glass revolving door and into the building itself.

"So, our little heroes have turned up after all." He snickered. Wharton walked up beside him and looked over the edge himself.

"Looks like we missed, sir. Do you want me to barricade the doorway so they can't get in?" He suggested cunningly. Archer suddenly spun around and raised a white gloved hand to strike his commander.

"Idiot!" He roared viciously, no hint of remorse in his voice. "Can you not see through your senile old eyes? We _want _him up here! I want him to try and challenge me! So that I can destroy him once and for all!" He clenched his fist in the air, slowly crushing an invisible heart into nothingness. Wharton steadied himself and straightened his uniform up.

"That seems a little harsh." Wharton suggested, quietly. "Why don't we just take out his pokémon and send him running away in fear? I'm sure he won't come back after…" Archer lifted his hand a little higher. Wharton backed away, seeing that his leader didn't agree with his idea. "Do you want me to get the men ready to fight if he does make it this far?" He asked, gulping and hiding behind his hat in defensive fear. Archer lowered his hand and turned around, putting his arms crossed behind his back.

"No. Send them down to great him. Also make sure they keep an eye on the prisoners. We don't want the company director or one of the scientists escaping now, do we?" He instructed. "Do not fail me like your other Commander did." Wharton seemed a little taken aback.

"But sir, if he makes it this far and manages to take me out who will be able to protect you?" He asked. Archer started laughing, quietly but it was still audible to his commanders. Slowly the laughter turned to cackling.

"Believe me commander; if he does make it this far he will not be able to defeat me. Last time we battled I only used a fraction of my power." He spun around suddenly, raising a clenched fist before his chest and taking Wharton by surprise."But this time I will not hold back! With my power I will crush him into submission, and keep crushing till there is nothing left!"

With little hesitation the three trainers landed quickly at the bottom floor and rushed inside through the large glass rotating door into the entrance hallway only to find no one was there. It was expected for there to be no workers around, but no Rocket Grunts either? Cautiously they stepped forwards, keeping their eyes open in case they were jumped by any hidden Rocket grunts or even one of the commanders. As it turned out they were lucky for now as, after making a quick search of the room they found that there was no one hiding in it. No one hiding behind the counter. No one lying in the water fountain. Even no one lurking in the back rooms. The entire floor was completely clear. With a sigh of relief they began to relax, the tension of their task loosening slightly of their shoulders. As they did so they began to take in the buildings interior. They were standing in a large reception office with light pale walls and blue tiled floor. At the far left side of the room was a reception desk with no receptionists behind it and several monitors running down the desk. A few metres away were a couple of waiting couches sat next to each other for the business men and other important figures who came to visit the company director to wait at. On the opposite side of the room were a collection of small glass coffee tables with small yellow and blue cushion seats underneath them where the workers could sit to eat their lunches. At the centre of the room was a large gushing water fountain that was lapping lightly at the sides of its deep bowl which dug deeper underground then first appeared. Joe sat down beside the fountain and rested for a second before they went on. He stretched and released all of his pokémon from their pokéballs, allowing them to prepare themselves for the up and coming battle. Finally he was able to see what Sirena looked like. He had heard of Lapras before but had never seen an image or drawing of one. The actual look of the creature had surprised him. He had imagined it to be a Gyarados like creature that towered over him with a huge jaw and long body but that was not the case at all. In fact it was only a few feet taller than him at full height, lying on its pail stomach with four fat blue flippers poking out of its sides, both front and back. On its back sat a large grey shell which was covered in huge thick yet pointless spines that ran down the centre and side of the shell. At the back of the shell two small tail fins poked out which it probably used for steering. At the front of its shell a long neck extruded up and at the top sat a small graceful reptilian head with two curved ears poking from the side, a pair of small white eyes and a long pointless horn half way down its curved beak nose. It looked similar to some kind of ancient plesiosaur and, considering that some had been recorded at being hundreds of years old, it probably was. The second she was released, Sirena the Lapras began dragging herself along the floor towards the fountain and dived into the shallow water, floating on it, serenely. Winter sat down next to him, leaning against her knees and looking slightly anxious. She turned to Joe, trying to put on a strong face but clearly well aware of the danger they were getting into. They would be lucky to come out of it unscathed at all.

"Nervous?" She asked. Joe looked up at her. It was clear he too was trying to put on a strong face, looking unconcerned but his eyes were giving him away. They looked very nervous and tense, aware of how much danger they were all in and that if they failed then they would be at the mercy of the Rockets for Arceus knows how long. He smiled weakly back at her but quickly the smile faded from his face.

"A little." He admitted. He began fiddling with his hands subconsciously as his anxiety began to show on the surface.

"Want to talk at all?" Winter asked him. Joe shook his head.

"Not really." He told her.

"Because if you do I'll listen. I know how much you've been through… how much we've all been through. Losing a pokémon, having to fight of Team Rocket by yourself, being told you're a chosen one. It must be weighing on you a lot." Joe waived a hand annoyed.

"Winter, I said I'm fine." He snapped. She backed up slightly. He sighed and held his head. "Sorry." He apologised. "Yeah, I'm a little tense I guess. It's just that… Well this is impossible." He gestured annoyed. "Why was I the one they chose to do this? I'm no hero like the last two. I'm hardly a good trainer. By all accounts I'm still a newcomer to the sport. I don't feel like I have the strength to do this alone." Winter took his hand.

"You're not alone." She told him, softly. "I'm here with you. Me and Rocky and the rest of our team will stand right by you till the bitter end. And if we do fail we'll stay at your side. We won't turn and run and leave you alone. No matter what we're a team. That's why we're still here." She smiled at him. Joe looked down at her hand in his. He hadn't even notice how warm it felt before. He began to feel something he hadn't even felt before. He felt strange, like his heart had suddenly turned to fragile glass and was hanging from the centre of a furnace. His body felt relaxed yet tense, unsure how to react. His mind was speeding up as he stared back into her shallow sea green eyes and for one of the first times in his life he could see trust and true friendship staring back. He blinked.

"W…Winter." He stammered quietly, his voice almost a whisper. Then Rocky came back, running down the flight of stairs on the other side of the room and her hand let go of his. Rocky ran over to them, chopper running beside him and they both stopped in front of the two other trainers.

"We did a scout of the upper level." He panted quickly. "But it doesn't look like there's anyone about. We got as far as the fourth floor before we finally spotted a couple of grunts and came back down here." He pointed back at the stairs. "They might have seen us as we ran back. I imagine they'll be either on their way down or guarding the stairs above. We'll have to take the lift." All pairs of eyes turned to the red metal cage at the other end of the room. The lift was hardly a suitable title for it as it didn't look like it could lift even a small packet of peanuts without breaking of its rails. The red paint on its metal door was rusting away and it hung at a slight right angle at its parked position. The door itself was ajar slightly as the machinery closing it seemed to be faulty. It confused all of them how a company as rich and well renowned as Silph had the money to make so many whack and useful inventions for pokémon trainers yet didn't have the money to pay for simple elevator repair.

"That thing looks like a death trap!" Winter exclaimed. "You can't honestly expect us to get inside that thing?" As she said it they could hear quickening footsteps coming from the stairway. The grunts had found them and were on their way now to catch them.

"It's either that or being caught." Rocky argued. All three trainers shared glances. There was no argument between them. Without saying another word they withdrew all their pokémon (Except Ralph) and ran towards the lift. Rocky pried the door open with his large hands and held it wide so Joe, Winter and Ralph could slide past before he too finally stepped in and let it close. Just as the door closed shut a small squad of grunts with batons and different kinds of poison pokémon rushed down the stairs and stopped by the fountain, looking around for the three trainers and one crobat. All four of them sighed with relief, standing compressed together in the cramped elevator space. They struggled against each other, trying to push themselves to the front and instead managing to crush each other against the sides.

"Where are the buttons?" Winter managed to ask whilst having Ralph's wing pressing her face against the metal side. Rocky, who was currently stuck at the front, look about quickly before finally spotting them.

"Here!" He called. He reached out to press one but suddenly stopped. "Which floor do you want to go to?" He asked. There was a short pause.

"What?" Winter asked. Rocky looked behind him.

"I asked which floor you want me to choose?" He repeated, more simply this time. There was another short pause.

"Why does it matter which floor we go to?" Joe asked, just managing to poke his head out from between winter's arm and Ralph's shoulder.

"Well what if we end up on a floor filled with grunts?" Rocky asked. "I need to know which floor I'm taking us to so we can to get to Archer mostly unharmed."

"The top floor!" Joe shouted at him. "Press the top button!" Rocky turned back to the panel, pressed the top button and then turned back again.

"It doesn't work." He told them.

"Try again!" Joe shouted, getting very uncomfortable in his position. Rocky pressed the button again. Nothing happened. He tried the one bellow. Still nothing happened.

"No, it's not working." He told them simply.

"Keep trying the rest of them!" Winter shouted at him. Rocky did so. He pressed all of the buttons before finally one of them worked and lit up. Suddenly the lift jolted to the left and began to rise, knocking them all about as it swung about slightly.

"Who made this bloody thing?" Joe asked, angrily as the lift lifted them upwards.

"Which floor is it taking us to?" Winter asked. Rocky shrugged and looked back at the panel.

"Floor 5" He told them, turning back around to see three furious faces.

"Floor 5!?" Joe and Winter shouted at him, not only annoyed but also very surprised.

"But that's only four floors up!" Joe shouted. "That's nowhere near the top."

"Sorry, but it's the highest button that works." Rocky explained, not to happy about it himself. His simple honesty didn't seem to stop his friends from shouting.

"We're going to have to walk up twenty floors! That will take us ages!" Winter told him, still quite stunned.

"Well there's nothing I can do about it." Rocky explained to her, shrugging his shoulders submissively. "We'll just have to walk." Finally his friends began to calm down, dramatically exhausted looks on their faces. They leaned back against the metal walling and sighed, preparing themselves for the high trek they were about to take.

"I just feel sorry for the people here who work on the top floor." Joe muttered to himself. A few seconds later there was a small ping and the door opened up half way. Rocky quickly stumbled into action and grabbed the two red metal doors, pushing them open for the others to come through. All four of them collapsed to the ground outside of the lift in a pile on top of each other. A second later they began pushing themselves back onto their feet.

"I am not taking the lift here ever again!" Winter said as she pushed herself back onto her feet. The four of them stood there for a few seconds think over what they should do next.

"Now what?" Rocky asked. Joe whipped down his jumper and walked past him.

"Now we climb upwards." He told them simply.

The walk up the many flight of stairs that led all the way up to the roof of Silph Co tower was very tiring. The group had managed to walk for days to get from one city to the other in all weather on road or off with just enough energy to get them there. They had barely managed to get six floors up before already showing signs of exhaustion. Joe ended up having to drag himself up the steps just to reach the next floor and next flight up. Even Ralph seemed quite tired already. He had had to take up carrying most of them up the steps, lifting him in the grip of his long front wings while moving forward with the flapping of his much smaller back wings. Luckily for them it seemed that all the rocket grunts on the levels they passed were either asleep or downstairs looking for them, allowing them safe passage to make their noisy way up to the roof. Finally, as a synchronised collective, they collapsed; unable to climb any further only ten floors above where they had gotten off, reaching the final step on floor fifteen. The sat on the steps, leaning against the railing and wall, resting their feet quickly. Joe panted heavily and whipped his forehead with his sleeve.

"We can give up now." He huffed, getting his breath back. "We're only half way to go. We need to get up there. We need to stop Team Rocket."

"We're exhausted." Winter gasped back. "These steps are so steep. How do people climb these things every day?"

"Damn lift!" Rocky mumbled to himself, sitting against the far wall. "It had to not be working today of all days." Ralph nodded in agreement, dropping to the ground and lying out flat on his face, his wings sprawled out on the floor. They sat there for at least half a minute before suddenly they could hear shouting from bellow. The grunts had finished their searching and were coming back up. Immediately heavy running footsteps on the thick stone metal steps reverberated around the building and up to the four heroes. Each of them sat up suddenly and looked at each other.

"They're coming back!" Winter realised, looking around at her friends. Joe suddenly shot to his feet, helping Ralph back up into the air as he did so.

"Time to go." He called and began to head for the stairs again, this time taking them two steps at a time and at mach speed. Winter and Rocky didn't spend any time dawdling as they to quickly get back to their feet and ran after him. They rushed upwards, the footsteps of the grunts slowly catching up on them from bellow. For every two steps they took the grunts would take three. Quickly they were beginning to slow down as their exhaustion caught up quickly. Joe slowed almost to a stop as he reached the twentieth floor. He stopped and leaned against the wall as Rocky, Winter and Ralph stumbled past him. The footsteps still continued to follow, even closer than before now, only two floors below or so. Joe glanced back at his friends. They were exhausted and going any higher up in this state would just tire them even more. They were going to get caught if they tried that. There was only one thing for it. "Quick!" He panted, pointing at a far office room a few metres away. "Hide in there!" He rushed over and swung the door open as quietly as he could, holding it open for the others to follow and then all of them hiding under the office desks in the room, out of sight. A few seconds later the heavy running footsteps of the grunts rushed past, heading continuously up the steps, not even realising the people they were after were hiding on that floor. A few seconds later and the rushing began to subside as the footsteps got further and further away. Then it all fell silent. Each of the friends looked at each other.

"Are they gone?" Winter asked. Joe shrugged.

"I'll check." He told them. He put his hands on the top of the desk, manoeuvred onto his knees and peeked over the side. Suddenly he darted back down, heart racing. There was a grunt on the other side of the glass window into the room. Winter and Rocky too began to tense up.

"Are they outside?" She asked. Joe nodded simply.

"Did they see you?" Rocky asked. Joe shook his head.

"No, he was looking the other way." He whispered. "What know?" He asked quietly. They all thought for a second.

"How many are out there?" Rocky asked. Joe shrugged. He turned back around and peered over the top of the desk again. The grunt that had been at the window had moved away now, standing at the centre of the room with four other grunts standing by him, all chatting silently to one another. They looked to be like a squad of Rocket elites, wearing the more decorated uniforms and carrying the more powerful pokémon. Beside one of them were a rather fierce looking pair of Muk and Sandslash which were jittering about in edgy anticipation, clearly looking forward to the idea of taking on a couple of intruders. Joe hid back down again.

"Five of them." He told them. "Looks like more elites. They have some tough pokémon out there, too. They're standing near the stairs so if they don't move on I don't think we'll be able to sneak past them. What should we do?" He wondered. They were all silent again.

"Um, excuse me." A fourth voice said from beside them. Joe jumped in sudden surprise and put his hand over his mouth. It was all he could do not to shout out. Winter and Rocky had the exact same reaction. The new figure that was kneeling beside them looked to be a scientist of some kind, wearing a white lab coat and stereotypical spectacles on the ridge of his nose. He sat there next to them, looking very frightened. "Oh, sorry for… for taking you by surprise." He whispered, apologetically, stumbling on his words. "But, I…I thought you knew I was hiding here. I hoped that you… you had come here to save me. Joe moved his hand away and kept his eyes fixed on the scientist.

"What are you doing here?" He asked. "I thought that Silph was working with team rocket now." The Scientist shrugged embarrassed.

"Well, you see, that's the funny thing. We are… or at least we were a couple of hours ago. Now they've been hunting us down and locking us away in one of the lower levels so we can't escape and call the police about their plan to take over Kanto."

"Take over Kanto?" Rocky mused. "I thought they were just stealing pokémon for their own ends. I never thought they would go that far." The scientist nodded sadly.

"No, they've been building up a small army of grunts like the ones out there to capture and control each city at once. I don't really know what they expect to gain from this. I feel so awful for helping them build that device but they threatened to kill me if we didn't. Maybe the second option was the better one." He wondered, moping. Joe and the others looked at each other.

"What device?" Joe asked.

"The one on their leaders arm." The scientist explained. "His glove. It can simultaneously recreate any pokémon move known to human kind. With it he could wield the power of any legendary single handed. Quite literally single handed. With it he does not need any pokémon by his side. He can do anything with it and there's nothing anyone else can do to stop him." He began to panic now, shivering uncontrollable as his voice pitch rose slightly and he began to shed fearful tears. Quickly Joe shushed him to be quiet.

"I know who you're talking about. I've fought him before. Archer!" He whispered, anger starting to rise in his voice. The scientist nodded, head in hands. "Look, if that device is this powerful is there any way to switch it of or remove its power. I need to know. I need to confront him here tonight or else all of Kanto is lost already. Please tell me everything you know." The scientist sniffed and wiped his eyes and nose.

"Well… he mumbled, fiddling with his lab coat buttons. "When me and the other scientists who work here were creating the device we set it to run long time on a small but strong zinc battery, meaning having to swap it around wouldn't be needed so long as the device wasn't kept on 24/7. When it does run out he'll need to replace it for another one. He has a steady supply on him. It may be possible, if you can get the attack through and hit the glove, to overload the battery with an electric attack. If you do that it will heat up and crack, rendering the device useless till he can swap it out for another battery. If you can do that you'll make him vulnerable, at least you will for a minute or so." The scientist suddenly looked a lot happier now. He looked hopefully at Joe and his friends. "Do you think you could do that? Could you overload his weapon and stop him?" He asked. Joe shrugged.

"I have to try." He told him. The scientist punched the air.

"Alright. Let's get up there. He cheered and was about to stand up when Joe pulled him down again.

"What are you doing?" He snapped. "The grunts are still out there. They'll see you and us if we try and leave now." He sighed and sat down again hitting the back of his head lightly on the desk.

"So how do we get pasts them?" Winter asked. No one responded. For the first time none of them had a plan.

"Let me distract them." Rocky spoke up bravely. "You three take the opportunity to move on up and reach archer." His two friends stared at him.

"But Rocky there's five of them out there. They'll overwhelm you. We can't just leave you here to fight them alone." Winter argued. Rocky shook a hand.

"No. Someone needs to make sure they can't come up on you from behind. If I hold them down here that will give you more time to stop their leader."

"Rocky, are you sure?" Joe asked. Rocky gave a determined nod.

"Yes. It's the least I can do to help your fight. Sorry I can't make it to help out." He smiled and suddenly jumped up, rushing out through the glass door and releasing all five of his pokémon. "Hey, over here!" He shouted, waiving his hands in the air at the four rocket Elites and stepping aside from the office so they wouldn't see Joe and Winter running. At once all five Elites turned and glared at him, releasing their various poison, ground, flying, bug and psychic pokémon to surround him. All five figured began to surround him, only for Chopper, Crash, Mina, Ely and Gargoyle to position themselves before him to defend their trainer. The elite with the Muk and Sandslash stepped to the front of his group.

"I remember you." He hissed, recognizing Rocky suddenly. Then he realised. "Ah yes. You were with that other boy, the one with the Crobat and that ginger girl with the pestering water pokémon." Winter snarled under her breath.

"I'll show him pestering." She muttered and was about to stand up when Joe grabbed her arm and pulled her back down.

"Don't!" He snapped quietly. "Or they'll see you and our cover will be blown, too." Winter hid back down again, calming down. The Rocket Elite that was confronting Rocky was the same one that they had run into in the Safari Zone and again in the Berry forest only last night. How had he gotten to Silph Co so fast? However he had managed to do it the team were starting to get a little annoyed by his constant reappearance and he doubly so by their constant interference. He narrowed his eyes at Rocky who stood defiantly before him.

"Where are they now?" He asked, malice hinging on his words. Rocky did not answer nor did he back away. He stood his ground and kept silent. The Elite Captain shrugged. "Alright. If that's the way you want it." He turned to his pokémon. "Sandslash, Slash him down!" He commanded. At once his spiny backed, rat-like ground type lunged forwards, claw raised up and glistening in the light. His path was however stopped by a small skull wearing cubone. Mina jumped out in front of the opponent as it rushed towards them and threw her club which struck it square on the head. Sandslash was stopped in its tracks as it stopped and rubbed its head where the bone had struck. The Elite Captain growled, baring his teeth. "You insolent little prick." He muttered, hissing through his teeth. He raised a hand up to attack himself only to be struck over by Chopper. He kicked and punched at the captain as he lay on the floor trying to push him off. "Get them!" The captain shouted as Muk, the amorphous purple blob who was waiting patiently, sprung into action and shot Chopper off of his owner with a huge spray of sludge. Suddenly the other four Elites jumped into action, sending their pokémon in to attack as Rocky and his team desperately fought to keep them back.

"Now's our chance." Joe whispered to Winter and the Scientist who were still crouched beside him. "My friend and I will head on up towards their leader. You get downstairs and call the police." He instructed. The scientist nodded.

"Ok." He whispered. Then all three of them burst from the office and rushed towards the stairs. In seconds of doing so they were seen by the Elites.

"Hey, look. There are more of them!" One of them shouted. Their captain snarled up seeing Joe again.

"Get them!" He snapped. Just as two of the Elites moved away to 'Get them' they were bowled over by Crash who lashed out with his tail and swept them onto their backs. As they lay winded on the ground Joe and Winter took the opportunity to run up the stairs and towards the roof while the scientist shot of downstairs and was out of sight in seconds. The Elite Captain glared at Rocky. "God damn it! You were only a distraction for them to escape!" He realised. He then forced his pokémon to press the attack harder. "Well once I'm done with you I'll go after them and stop them myself. That won't take very long." He snarled. Rocky kept him back, Sending Chopper and Ely to use their raw power to hold his team back. Suddenly there was a small flash of bright light as one of his pokémon began to glow. Chopper was finally evolving. Rocky smiled.

"Just keep running, guys." He thought as his friends continued on up towards the final battle.

Joe and winter had just made it to the twenty fourth floor and were still running. They knew if they were to slack for a second then they could be caught by one of the following grunts and their need to stop Archer motivated them on. As they reached the twenty fifth floor however they saw a figure standing in the way of the door which lead to an emergency ladder which would take them up to the roof.

"Who's that?" Winter asked as she and Joe slowed to a complete halt as he came into view, staring at him cautiously. The figure stared back, his arms folded calmly and his face showing now emotion beyond a smug looking smile. He was clearly male although his black clad clothing made it a little tougher to tell without looking at his face. He looked to be quite young, about seventeen or eighteen maybe with short blonde hair on the top of his head and long black hair hanging over one brown eye which was clearly some kind of foreign style. His black clad clothing consisted of a thin black hoodie with the hood up, long black cargo pants with a black leather and metal belt and black foot wraps for shoes. Joe couldn't help feel like he had seen him before. The figure just continued to smile at them.

"So finally you make it here. After so long travelling and with so much else going on in your small lives you arrive early. I'm impressed." He told them. They just stared at him, unable to pinpoint how they recognised him.

"Move aside." Joe told him, sternly. "I need to get up there. I need to confront Team Rocket." Joe tried to get past him but the boy simply stood in his way, blocking the stairwell from sight. He shook his head.

"Sorry but I'm not going to do that." He told them simply. "I can't just let you run up their unprepared." Joe looked at him, an eyebrow raised.

"What are you talking about?" He asked. The boy chuckled suddenly, surprising Joe and Winter.

"Really? Neither of you remember me?" He asked. Both trainers just looked at him. He sighed, still chuckling. _Had these trainers really not figured any of it out yet?_ He stood up straight, arms crossed in front of him. "Well, maybe this will jog your memories." He announced. Then he spoke again. "Viridian City. Stone wall. Crash." He told them, his voice low and speaking slowly, reawakening their memories. Joe's eyes suddenly widened.

"You!" He exclaimed suddenly. "You were that.. that…" He stumbled, surprised and confused.

"The boy who pointed you towards the pokémon centre?" The boy finished for him, a smug smile on his face. Joe nodded vigorously. "Well I must say you two have very short memories. But to be honest what did I expect. Though on that day I must admit I was right." He told them. His words sounded odd, almost like a riddle of some kind. Joe rubbed his head.

"So what are you doing here?" He asked. The boy simply waved a hand dismissively.

"Already you ask me important questions but you haven't even asked for my name." He tutted. "Shameful. Well at least I know yours. You're Joseph Glende of Pallet town and you are Winter Kitoshi of Cerulean City. Your friend who is fighting downstairs is Rocky Stone of Pewter City, brother of the gym leader Gordon Stone." He raised a hand out warmly. "My name is Samuel." He told them, his smile still on his face. Joe did not shake his hand.

"How do you know our names?" Winter asked. "When we met you in Viridian we didn't tell you." Samuel chuckled again. It was all he seemed to be able to do apart from smile.

"Dear girl did it never occur to either of you how often it is you run into Team Rocket?" He asked simply. The response he got was silence. "I have been keeping an eye on you three throughout your travels. I have watched everything you have done from afar. Your win against Rocky and Gordon in Pewter City, Your battle against the rockets in Cerulean, Your overwhelming success to stop the slavers outside Vermillion, Your recapture of the S.S. Falcon from Rocket hands, Your escape from Rock Tunnel, Your battle with the ghost of pokémon tower but most importantly with your own grief, Your loss to Erika which then turned into your saving her from the Rockets, Your escapade in the Safari Zone, Your return to Pallet and battle against Archer, Your fight with the thugs in Saffron and your defeat of Cheng under the Cinnabar mansion. I have watched everything you have done in your small time as a trainer. I have been there in the background, watching keenly with deep interest. You are a surprise, my friend. A legend in a million empty faces." He stopped finally, unfolding his arms and letting them hang beside him. Joe and Winter just stared at him.

"You've been following us all this time." Joe realised, his voice quiet with realisation. "You were a spy for Team Rocket?" Samuel shook his head.

"No, not really. Not for Team Rocket." He explained. "Merely for their leader. See I work for him as a student. He taught me the power you can unlock with pokémon and told me that one day I would find another who could naturally unlock that same power. I searched all over Kanto for the last year or so, battling all kinds of trainers but never finding one powerful enough to beat me at my raw power. And then I ran into you on that fateful day. Although it didn't strike me straight away I knew that there was something about you. An aura of some kind which told me you were somehow important in what was to come. I knew I had to find out why so I followed you to the pokémon centre only to find it had been captured by a small group of Rocket grunts. It surprised me even more to find out you alone had managed to stop them. I knew then that you were the one I had been searching for, for so long. I kept my eye on you and sure enough as you travelled on and your team grew in size and strength you were becoming more powerful, more aware. But you weren't ready. You needed something to make you angry. Something that would set you up to need to fight team rocket. So I helped him. I set him up with equipment and let him do what needed to be done. Once it was you had no wish to stand aside and let the Rockets win. Once Sting was dead there would be nothing to stop your true power awakening." He stopped as he saw that Joe's eyes had narrowed. Fire burned at the back of them. His snarl grew across his face. His mind fixated on everything he had been told.

"You killed Sting!" He snarled, anger rising in his voice. Again Samuel simply shook his head.

"No, I did not kill him. I aided in his death yes but I was not the one who carried the sniper and pulled the trigger. _He_ did." Joe calmed down a little but did not take his eyes of the boy before him.

"Who's he?" He asked, simply in a less angry voice now. Samuel looked saddened.

"Sorry but I can't tell you. This is not the time to do so. You will find out one day." He then straightened up properly, folding his arms again. "But now you are at the end of your course here. Your power has been awakened even if you can't see it. Your anger will keep you strong and determined but be careful it doesn't blind you, too." He stepped back. "And now there is only one thing left for me to do." He pulled out a strange device from a small bag slung on his back. The device was red and looked similar to pokedex except for the elastic wrapped around two bolts at the far end and a large spherical indent at the end with a spinning screw in its middle. Around it were three velcro straps for tying around the users arm and keeping the device attached and underneath was a small trigger which was presumably for launching the spherical disk. The boy strapped the device to his right arm and then proceeded to pull out a pokéball and slot it into the spherical slot at the end. "I want you to show me the full extent of your skill and power." He explained. Lowering his arm again. "I want you to fight me in a pokémon battle." Joe looked at him, completely confused and steaming with anger. He was not willing to give up his chance to defeat Archer just so this creep could have his moment of fun.

"Sorry, but I've got better things to do." He told him, scornfully and tried to head for the stairs. Samuel just stood in his way again. "Move!" Joe snapped. But Samuel would not move.

"No." He told him. "You are not ready. You must face me or you will lose against them. Then all will be lost." His expression became regretful. "I cannot fight him. I do not have the strength. You however have a chance. Please let me make sure you can do it. For the good of human and pokémon kind let me fight you." Joe sighed, rubbing his forehead with one hand.

"If I do defeat you will you stand aside?" He asked. Samuel nodded. "Alright." He sighed. "Let's battle." Samuel smiled again.

"Ok. I'll make this quick. One on one. Your Crobat Vs mine." He explained, raising his device up and out. Without another word he pulled the trigger and the pokéball was flung out across the room. "Go, Golbat!" He cried as it sailed out and snapped open, releasing a loud mouthed purple bat pokémon which was slightly smaller and slightly uglier then Ralph. Ralph stepped forward on Joe's side, ready and willing to fight. Golbat circled around Samuel's side of the room, its tongue flopping out the side of its mouth stupidly.

"Remember me?" It asked as it saw Ralph stepping forwards. Ralph's eyes widened. It was the same Golbat that had visited him in the night on route sixteen. The one that had told him his old master was returning. Suddenly everything that was going on seemed to slot into place. Then he snapped back to reality, hearing Joe shouting a command.

"Ralph let's get this done quick." He told his friend. Ralph nodded in agreement. "Alright, use Air Cutter!" Joe instructed. Ralph pulled back his wings and released a wave of cutting air.

"Double Team!" Samuel shouted. Immediately Golbat faded away into a ring of copies which surrounded Ralph. Ralph however didn't take long to figure out how to overcome this problem. He shot straight up into the air and looked down at the battle, finding Golbat hidden in between two of his images. He shot back down and struck him in the back, knocking him away injured but still fighting. Samuel cursed under his breath.

"Very good." He muttered. Then he raised his hand again. "Golbat, use Aerial Ace!" He cried. Golbat Shot forwards with one glistening light blue wing and slashed Ralph across the face before he could even move. Ralph stumble backwards in pain, only just stopping himself falling over onto the floor. Joe winced.

"You can do it, Ralph." He cheered on. "Use Poison Fang!" Ralph did so, flying forwards and biting down hard on Golbat's side. The attack did very little damage however, only managing to flinch it a little. Ralph dragged it down to the ground and dropped it hard onto the shining floor. Golbat immediately shot back into the air and circled around him from above.

"Bite!" Samuel Commanded.

"Steel Wing!" Joe instructed. Both flying pokémon shot forwards, fanged jaws open and long wings outstretched. Ralph's wings were glistening bright silver. Then they met dead centre of the field, attacks hitting home. Golbat bit down hard on Ralphs glistening silver wing as it struck it in the mouth. Golbat was sent sailing backwards, its jaw aching from the attack it had just received. It spun around several times as it sailed backwards before finally regaining altitude and preparing for a new attack.

"Use Screech!" Samuel instructed. A sudden awful high pitch screaming sound came from Golbat's mouth, causing everyone except Samuel to cover their ears. Ralph was forced to listen as he had no way of covering them without falling out of the air. Samuel smiled, almost maliciously. "Now Aerial Ace!" He instructed again. Ralph looked up just in time to see the speeding bullet that was Golbat shooting towards him and slash him across the face with one glowing sharp wing. Ralph recoiled in surprise and pain and nearly fell out of the air before catching himself and spiralling upwards again.

"Ok, not going so well anymore." Joe muttered to himself. Then he had an idea. "Ralph, use Confuse Ray!" Joe told him. Ralph nodded and released a small ball of light from his mouth. The ball spun around Golbat's head who followed it curiously, getting faster and faster till finally he stopped, his eyes spinning and his brain shaking. He stumbled around, confused and nearly bumped into a wall.

"No!" Samuel exclaimed.

"Alright." Joe exclaimed. "Now take it out with another steel wing!" Joe commanded. Ralph sped forwards and struck Golbat in its confusion on the side of the face. Golbat plummeted to the ground and hit, lying KO'd on the floor, unable to battle any longer. Samuel sighed. Then he looked up and smiled, his eyes glowing with hope.

"You beat me." He said simply, sound not amazed but glad. "You defeated Golbat. No one I've ever come across has managed to do that. You can do it. You can win. You can stop team Rocket!" His voice was almost a cheer now. He withdrew Golbat quickly and stood there, his hands on his face in shock. "I was right all along. You are the one! You are the one!" He cheered. Suddenly heavy metal footsteps could be heard coming down the stairs behind him. They all looked back to see Wharton was walking down them, not having noticed them, yet. He was mumbling to himself.

"Günter I want you to go and fetch a cup of hot coffee. He's going mad up there and I need something strong to keep me awake." He cried out, rubbing his eyes and yawning fiercely. When he opened them again he saw two trainers standing before him. One was female with ginger hair and the other was male with a blue grey jumper. Samuel had darted to the side and run out of the room the second he had seen the Rocket Commanded, not wishing to be noticed. Wharton let a small growl escape his lips. "You two!" He snarled, reaching for his pokéballs. "So you made it after all. No matter. I'm sure that Archer won't need to fight you. Not if I can take you out first." An evil smile crossed his lips. Winter reached over to Joe.

"Go." She whispered. "I'll keep him busy. You get up there and take on their leader." Joe turned to her.

"No I'm not leaving you here to fight him alone." He argued. At that moment Primape and Rhyhorn, Wharton's pokémon, appeared in front of them, cracking the tiles under them as they stomped about. Already they were beginning their attacks. As Primape was about to rush in and strike Joe square in the chest Stream the poliwrath jumped up in its way and blocked the attack. Rhyhorn threw a large rock into the air only for it to be shattered by Staryu's hydro pump. The rest of Winter's pokémon joined in now, River creating a smoke screen which blinded Wharton's team, Zephyr releasing a heavy gust of wing to knock them over and Lucky who was making sure everyone on her side kept healthy. Wharton shouted angrily.

"Get out of my way, girl!" He roared. His pokémon began pressing that attack even hared now, slowly pushing her pokémon back.

"Joe, go now!" Winter snapped at him. Joe looked at her.

"But…" he mumbled, desperately. Winter turned her angry green eyes at him.

"NOW!" She screamed. Joe didn't even think twice. He ran past her and Wharton towards the stairs upwards.

"No, god damn it!" Wharton cried. He then turned on Winter, furiously. "You let him get away! Now you shall pay!" Winter just glared back at him. Suddenly one of her pokémon began to glow, the same way that chopper had done downstairs. She looked at her team to see that River was beginning to grow suddenly. She was evolving, just like Chopper had done. Winter smiled.

"No matter what you do to me, I will not let you stop him!" She retorted, glaring back at Wharton who was gritting his teeth against the waves her pokémon were creating.

Joe ran up the red metal steps, not stopping for a second. He heard Winter's angry shouting of commands from bellow but did not look back to help. Ralph followed closely behind him, looking just as determined. They had only one thing they needed to do. They were going to fight the leader of Team Rocket. He ran on up the cold metal steps and finally a large green emergency escape door came into view. He ran forwards and charged into it, forcing the door to swing open dramatically and almost fly off its hinges. And they stood there out in the open above the city, the night air rushing past them. Archer stood at least twenty feet away near the helipad staring right at them. Joe did not back down, nor did he stop moving. He walked towards his opponent, not afraid of what he needed to do. He was going to confront Team Rocket, He was going to confront their leader and he was going to win!

"And now…" Joe thought. "It ends, tonight."


	32. Chapter 32: Hail Giovanni!

**I'm really sorry about how long this chapter is. There is so much I want to make happen that I can't get done in less than 10,000 words. Therefore I've had to split it into two parts. I hope you enjoy. Incidentally this isn't the finale.**

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The large green emergency door burst open into the cold night air and Joe ran out onto the rooftop of Silph Co headquarters, Ralph following right behind him. The freezing night-rising air struck them in the face and made them shiver but they did not fall to its roaring demands. They held strong, knowing well what they were up against. In the distance the black horizon was beginning to grow lighter as the dawn sun approached in the east. They skidded to a defensive stop, standing looking on at the opponent before them. Only ten metre's away from them, clad in his light white uniform with flailing long cape and identity hiding mask and red visor, stood Archer, the acclaimed grand leader of Team Rocket. He stood side onto them, seven Rocket Grunts armed with rifles standing to attention behind him as he looked out at the soon approaching sun. In an hour or so it would rise up and awaken the world again with its godly light. A few more feet away Cheng was standing, sulking and looking at the floor, seemingly not celebrating their capture of the Silph Co building. His lack of success in beating Joe and his friends on many occasions coupled with the fact his pokémon had been released had not only dishonoured his pride but it also had not sat well with his leader. Archer gave a quickly disapproving glance at his failure of a commander before turning finally and acknowledging the young trainer standing before him. His thin red visor glared straight at the boy and his crobat friend who stood side by side together, unafraid, or at least not showing such. Behind his cloth front he smirked to himself. He was brave to try and fight him, but arrogant and vain none the less. He turned properly now, reaching for his pocket and sliding his right hand in, concealing it from view. Joe glowered back. He knew that the Rocket leader was trying to intimidate him and it was not going to work. He and his friends had not made it this far, not willingly put everything on the line, maybe even give up their own lives in the process just to back down now. He stepped forwards and a rocket grunt raised his rifle, pointing it at Joe's chest. Archer quickly raised a flat hand up and the grunt lowered his gun again. Joe took the step forwards and this time the grunt did not aim again. Their eyes met, boy and Commander as they stared each other down for a few seconds, preparing for whatever the other had in mind to act. Finally the silence was broken by the low, evil, sinister cackle that came from under archer's cowl.

"Boy you continue to surprise me." He announced, gesturing out slightly with his left hand. "You evade our nets. You thwart our plans. You even defeat my commanders like they are nothing more than children with dolls. I respect that you have certainly some skill, unless my men are truly that incapable, which seems more likely than one could have expected." He snarled, glancing back at the ashamed commander Cheng behind him. "But never mind all that." He continued. "You are here now. Finally you face me at the height of my power. What you saw the last time was merely a glimpse at it. Now, here, atop the pinnacle of invention and science, we face again, for the last time. Except this time I will not hold back, not even for a second." Joe just rolled his eyes. Why do the bad guys always monologue?

"Look, I don't care what you have to say. I'm just here to put an end to all this fighting. Team Rocket stops tonight." He snarled. Archer laughed at this.

"Ha. You have such spirit. Fine. No more talking about how strong we are. Instead let us focus on you and who you are. You've beaten my commanders on every occasion and me the once. Why do you have this vendetta to stop us? What is it that spurs you on and has brought you here tonight, the only one who is willing, maybe even strong enough to face me?" Archer put his arms behind his back, waiting for the response. Joe shifted his eyes to Ralph who was half glaring at Team Rocket, half watching the sky far away.

"I keep fighting not because I want to. If I wanted to I could just let you win and never even try and fight back when you take over." He explained. "I fight you because I feel I must. I've seen others try and fail and I'm the only one who has even taken out one of your commanders. If I don't fight back then who will. If I cannot try and stop you then what's the point? What's the point of living if you do not fight for it?" He straightened his hat which had got scuffed up as he ran. "If I cannot defeat you… If I cannot even try… Then there is no point in my existence. So no matter what I'm going to fight back. Even if half of Kanto is burned, crushed or destroyed in the process I don't care. Because there has to be a yang to the yin. There has to be someone willing to fight back against all forms of evil... And it turns out that person is me." He dropped his hands to the side, tired of all the fighting, tired of all the talking. Most of what he was saying was just stuff he'd heard from films and read in books. He just wanted to get this over with. Archer tilted his head forwards slightly. Then he began to give a small clap, pulling his right arm, now encased in his large electronic glove, out from his pocket again.

"Very powerful words you speak." He told him, mock complementing. "But they are not powerful enough to change my mind. Words alone will not stop what is set in motion." He turned to side face him again, now looking out at the opposite side of the sky, facing the setting half moon as it began to disappear behind the horizon. "You alone would not be strong enough to stop this. If you were the Champion or maybe even one of the Elite Four then maybe I would feel slightly intimidated, but you are not." He told him. "You have no hope in doing so." Joe straightened his back, standing tall and determined.

"But I have done. I've beaten your commanders and stopped many of their attempts to steal pokémon, tools, devices, information, even a full sized cruise ship. Whatever plan you had must have been at least set back." He reasoned. "So surely, considering the kind of things you've been after, I could figure out what you are really after and a way to stop you." Archer sighed and shook his head, disappointed.

"You don't even know what our plan for those items was, do you?" He asked, turning his head to look at the young trainer. Joe looked back, not showing the truth but it was obvious. Archer chuckled. "No, you don't know." He told him. He then turned back around. "This is the ultimate plan that those missions were seeking." He explained, lifting his power glove into the air before him and showing it to the young trainer. "This tool here, my PMED glove, this is what makes me powerful. This is what I have been seeking to create for the last year or so, before Team Rockets return. You think you stopped our plans before, throughout Kanto?" He shook his head. "No you did not. You simply postponed some of them. Do you remember all the locations you ran into our little group before we met?" He suddenly asked. Joe was unsure what this had to do with anything but he thought about it anyway.

"Well there was Viridian City Pokémon Centre, Mt Moon, Cerulean City, Route 5, The S.S Falcon, Lavender Town, Celadon City, the Safari Zone and Pallet Town" Joe shrugged. "Why is that important?" He asked. Archer just turned again, facing back out towards the dawn.

"I remember the reports. The first was a failure. I should never have sent just the two grunts when a full cohort could have got the job done much quicker, and thanks to you and your friends we could not steal that Charmander at the day-care building, which, from what I know, now resides in your pokéball as a fully evolved charizard. Then there was Lavender town. Another big failure. Never even got close to the ghost before you could depart it. All the others, however, no matter how they may look to have turned out, have been a success." Joe looked confused.

"Success?" He asked, unsure. "But how? I stopped you each and every time. You never succeeded in your overall plan." Archer suddenly burst out laughing." He leaned back, raised his head and howled up at the heavens above.

"Overall plan? You really thought I would be after such futile, pointless targets?" He laughed. "Truly child I expected too much of you. They were decoys. All of them, every single one that you managed to stop was a decoy. You never had the advantage over us and only me and my close selection of Elite guard knew that. I believe you may have met them before, In the Safari Zone, Three Island and here today." Joe's face turned to sudden realisation.

"Them?" He asked. Archer nodded.

"Yes. Those five better dressed characters with higher power pokémon who, if I'm right, are currently battling against one of your friends at this very moment." A horrible, sadistic snarl came from under his mask. "While you were busy fighting off my Commander in Mount Moon, trying to stop him from stealing Clefairys, of all things, they were hiding in the background, locating a specific species of mushroom I needed, which enhances the strength of all pokémon attacks and grows only on the backs of parasect, and extracting it for my experiments. While you were trying to stop my men from breaking into the pokémon centre of Cerulean city and stealing hundreds of owned, useless pokémon, they were moving up route 24 and 25 towards the power plant where they could steal its electric pokémon for power and even locate one of the legendary birds. And let's not forget the S.S Falcon. Really, how could you fall for that? Did you think we wanted that ship for the crew or the passengers? Maybe you thought we wanted the ship itself." He shook his head. "No. While a ship that big would have been useful for transporting our men that was not the purpose of our mission. No, while you were distracted with my men and fighting off my one capable command, my elites were breaking into the private quarters of the captain and stealing the DNA of his most prised pokémon. An eevee. It turns out the senile old man has a grandson who breeds eevees and he gave his grandfather one as a birthday present. I didn't need the pokémon itself, only its unstable genetics. See, eevee can evolve into many different pokémon, one I believe you may have had on your team. This is because it has such unstable DNA as an Eevee; evolution is split down many paths. There's an evolution for each pokémon type and some forms of Eeveelution are still undiscovered. This is the major counterpart of my Pokémon Move Emulator Device. Mixing that DNA into a liquid compound allows me to turn my gloves power into any pokémon type. Couple that with the ability to use any move, taken from the DNA of the rare pokémon, Mew, who's DNA we still had on file from previous attempts to recreate life, and you have yourself a weapon that can wield the power of any pokémon without the need for that pokémon to even exist." He breathed in, heavily, the excitement of announcing his plan rushing through his cloaked mind. "And then there was the final component. The Safari Zone. So many rare pokémon for the taking but only one we needed. I imagine you can guess what it was." He asked. It didn't take much for Joe to figure it out.

"Chansey." He realised. Archer nodded.

"Yes. Now you understand. While those tiny nurses of the pokémon world are great friends to their trainers and rarities among the wilds they have one thing that makes them truly unique. The ability to heal their wounds and the wounds of others through means of a small, hollow egg. No other creature, save for its evolutions, can do that. That was the final component we needed. The Biological substance that was contained within the egg. Once we had that we could recreate the compound in our labs and when it was done we had a perfect regeneration serum... and within a day this was possible. Mix that with the rest, encase it in metal and attach it to a simple plastic, rubber and cloth glove and you have the power of a Deity at your fingertips." Joe looked absolutely stunned. He had never predicted that Team Rocket would be so cunning, that they would have tricked him over all this time. "You have been deceived boy." Archer continued. "We played you along like a fly in our net. We used you as an excuse, a target for our commanders to push themselves to fight. A scapegoat for their actions and a distraction for our real aim." Joe glared back up at him, an eyebrow raised, inquisitively.

"So what is your true plan, if it is not to take over Kanto?" Joe asked. Archer turned and walked away for a few steps before stopping again.

"No, the original plan you perceived is still correct. World domination is still our aim, as it always has been. Stealing pokémon was just a front. Why would we need to steal other people's pokémon anymore when we have perfectly good pokémon here, capable of defeating even the elite four if they wanted to in a swipe of their claws? No, power is what is important. Power is what commands armies, what leads countries, what topples civilisations. Now I am the most powerful man in Kanto… In the entire world!" He raised his glove to the air and white electric sparks began to fly out of it. Suddenly the seven grunts began to chant, pumping their rifle gripping arms up at the air and crying…

"Hail Archer! Hail Archer! Hail Archer!" Archer lowered his arm again and the chanting stopped.

"So, boy. Joseph Glende of Pallet Town. You still stand here before me. You cannot win this fight. No matter how hard you try I will always come out on top. I merely wish to offer you a choice." His voice became almost mocking, trying to sound like he was giving him an offer but sound more like he was signing him up for an early death. "You can fight back and be defeated but if you do so I will not hold out, I will not be merciful. None shall be spared, neither you nor your pokémon nor your friends bellow us. Or you can turn away and leave. Walk down those stairs behind you and out of this place. Let what will happen, happen. Let Team Rocket take over the world and I assure you that neither you, your team, your friends nor anyone you care about will be harmed. That is a promise from the leader of team rocket myself… and I, Archer, never go back on a promise." Joe looked up at him, his face showing a complete muddle of emotion. He was confused, unsure, afraid, anxious… yet still he had determination burning away at the back of his mind.

"If I leave then me… Ralph… all my friends… we can just go?" He asked. Archer nodded, animatedly.

"Yes!" He exclaimed. "All you need to do is just turn around and walk away. We'll let you and your friends go. Do that now and I swear we will not come after you." Joe looked down at his feet. He didn't know if his decision to fight Archer would be right, however. If he failed then it wasn't just him who would suffer as a result. His friends would be caught up as well and he didn't want that. They were not deserving of punishment for Joe's actions. He didn't want them, any of them to get hurt because of him. Maybe it was for the best that he turned away. Maybe if he let Archer win then they wouldn't need to be removed. But what if Archer wasn't telling him the truth. If he was speaking the truth and that device on his arm was really that powerful then why would he need to even give him a choice? If he wanted to he could just obliterate him then and there and be done with it. Was it possible that this offer to let him go was just a front so Joe could turn his back and leave himself vulnerable to an attack? Joe just didn't know. Either way he couldn't win. He looked up at Ralph who was looking straight back into his eyes. Their gaze met and the same thought was shared between them. At their current position they were not going to win, that was a certainty. But if they turned back now… if they walked away…. then what would they become. They would be turning their back on everything they had been fighting against. All the good they had done in their travel; meeting Winter, protecting Cerulean, stopping the slavers, recapturing the S.S. Falcon, helping Lavender Town, calming Marowaks spirit, rescuing Mina, protecting Celadon, stopping the rockets in the Safari Zone, protecting Pallet Town, rescuing Bill, even saving that little girl on three island. All that would be undone. Even if Archer was true to his word and he did let them go would they be able to live with themselves for it? Could they stand every day knowing they let a band of criminals conquer the world without even, when they had a chance to, putting up an effort to stop them? Were their own lives really more important than that of protecting what they believed in? Joe looked away. Ralph looked down at the floor. Then he nudged Joe's shoulder. Joe looked back at him and saw he was glancing up at the sky, watching something. Joe looked for a second, being careful not to hint to Archer that they were looking at something and suddenly he realised what it was he had seen. Not too far away and getting closer every second was a large, three headed bird pokémon with small, flapping wings and long tail feathers. It seemed to be a Dodrio, the evolution of Doduo and on its three long necks sat three figures. Two of them were humanoid, wearing red and black matching uniforms with white playing cards printed on the front. The third was a small pink blob with surprisingly long fleshy arms wrapped around Dodrios middle neck. Joe instantly recognised them.

"Team Ace?" He whispered quietly, quite surprised. Sure enough it was Team Ace that was approaching. Silently they parked overhead of Team Rocket and its leader, unseen… for now. Suddenly archer became impatient.

"Well!" He demanded. "What's your decision?" Joe looked back down at him. No longer did he look unsure. Know he knew exactly what he needed to do. He knew who he was going to be. He had made the decision he knew he always would.

"No amount of threats or bribery will make me change my mind. I've seen what Team Rocket is and I'm not willing to stand by and let you win. Even if I don't stand one percent of a chance I still shall not let it happen. There is no version of our world anywhere in the universe where I shall choose the other option and turn my back to this battle because, if I did, I would not be me anymore. I will not stand back and walk away while you conquer Kanto. I will keep fighting until I can fight no more, then keep holding back until the last shred of breath is forced from my body. You think you were going to convince me otherwise? Well Sorry." A cheeky, mocking smile crossed his face. "But I think you're going to have to be dealing with me a bit longer." Ralph was smiling, too. He agreed one hundred percent with Joe's statement. Even if they couldn't win they would not back down. If they could at least try then maybe they could create a positive result. Archer snarled under his mask. He reached for his glove.

"Fine!" He exclaimed. "Well then. Your Choice is made. Now I shall crush you under the true power of Team Rocket." He began to move forwards, raising his PMED arm up and locking it at the two opponents. At that very second Team Ace jumped. Archer was suddenly knocked to the ground as the sudden weight and force of a large orange crab pokémon landed on his back and crushed him flat on the floor. Another pokémon landed next to it, a tall, pine tree pokémon with three coconut-like heads hanging from underneath a fan like leaf as it stood on two small, fat feet. Another three more pokémon glided in beside them. One of them was Dodrio; the others were Nidorino and Nidorina who had also hitched a lift on its back and jumped of onto the cold rooftop as it came into land. On Dodrios back sat the three members of Team Ace, Ruby Ross and Frank, who looked not exactly excited by the predicament they had just jumped head first into but were still standing there looking determined to, for lack of a better word, 'Help'. Archer struggled to move underneath the large four foot tall and 132 stone Kingler which was currently sitting on his back, all six crustacean legs curled up at its side and two claws grabbing his arms and pinning them down. Ruby, Ross and Frank all jumped off of Dodrio's back to be met with seven loaded barrels and the shouting commands of 'FREEZE!' from the bodyguards. Suddenly they were all sent flying backwards by the powerful gust of Dodrio, now believed to be Quarrel, and landed unconscious and battered at the furthest ends of the rooftop. Only commander Cheng was still standing but he made no attempt to stop them. He simply looked at the floor, watching them from the corner of his eyes, feeling ashamed of his inability to fight back. Once everything seemed under control again, with Archer pinned, Cheng unresponsive and all their guards knocked out, Ruby, Ross and Frank all greeted Joe for the first time in their lives.

"Hello again." Ruby called, a smile on her face for some reason. "Sorry to crash in on your meeting like that." Joe looked so confused. Not that Team Ace had turned up; he knew that they were prone to doing that. He was surprised that they were actually happy to see him. And even more surprisingly he was happy to see them as well.

"What in the bloody hell are you lot doing here?" He asked, stumbling on his words slightly, still looking very surprised. They began to walk towards him, all smiling happily. Joe found it actually kind of unnerving rather than reassuring.

"We came to help out." Ruby explained, then looking back at Archer who was still struggling to push the huge orange crab off his back. "And I think we did a good job of it." Joe just stared at her.

"But why? How did you know I was up here?" He asked. Ross shrugged.

"To be honest we're not too sure ourselves." He admitted. "One minute we were on Cinnabar Island trying to find a way to get of it when this figure in black showed and told us you were in danger. He told us to go to Silph Co tower in Saffron city and stop Team Rocket from killing you. We agreed, and then suddenly we were here, flying over your heads. Quarrel had evolved, Crabby had evolved and all eight of us were completely, thoroughly confused." Joe continued to stare at them.

"Why would you three want to help me?" He asked. "I thought you didn't like me and my friends."

"Well we had a change of heart." Ruby explained. "We saw the error of our ways and we decided that what you must need right now is a big helping hand in defeating Team Rocket. We may be opportunistic money grabbers but we're not bad people and we wouldn't want to see you or your friends hurt." She explained.

"That and the guy offered us a large sum of money to help protect you." Frank added. Ruby kicked him sharply and Joe rolled his eyes.

"Of course you were only doing this for your own reasons." Joe sighed. Ruby, Ross and Frank looked at the floor disappointedly. "Well you're here now so you may as well lend a hand." Joe decided. All three of them looked back up again.

"Alright. What can we do to help?" Ross asked, cheering up at the sound of sweet sweet cash. Joe thought for a second.

"Just keep him pinned down for a bit longer. I need to think up a way to stop him and disable his weapon, at least for a short time so I can beat him. Can you do that?"

"We'll do it right away!" Frank exclaimed. The very second he did there was a huge explosion of electricity behind them. Archer had set his device off, causing it to discharge a huge field of electricity which struck Crabby in the belly and sent it flying up into the air. When it landed again it hit the roof a few metres away, completely unconscious.

"ENOUGH!" Archer screamed over the roaring static around him. He pushed himself back onto his feet and glared evilly at the three humans standing before him. He raised his PMED glove up and swung it down, striking Mort, the Exeggutor, in the chest with a fiery fist as the pokémon had tried to kick him. The large palm tree struck the ground, unmoving. Quarrel raised its arguing heads and reared up, ready to drill peck the new opponent but Archer avoided the attack, striking the three headed dodo pokémon in the chest with a Thunderpunch and knocking it out. Immediately, without any co-ordination, Nidorino and Nidorina rushed in, fangs bared and claws out. They both jumped simultaneous, aimed to grab Archer's arms but he stepped aside, letting them crash to the ground behind him. He then readied a large sphere of psychic energy and fired it at the two pokémon, knocking them out instantly as well. Then he turned back to face Joe and his new friends. He raised his PMED up and aimed it at the three of them. "DIE!" He roared. Suddenly he realised that there was another pokémon with them, a small yellow mouse. Before he could stop himself he fired the attack, sending four five swinging electric and metal shackles out from his arm. Pippy, who Joe had released during the fight, fired a small bolt of static from his cheeks and sent it aimed at Archer's weapon. Joe and Ralph dived aside just in time as the large flying shackles spun towards them, avoiding being caught in their static grasp. Team Ace was less fortunate. They barely had the chance to move before the large steel and electric chains struck them and wrapped them up in their swinging grasp, pulling them back across the rooftop and leaving them tied up and unable to escape next to the doorway Joe had come in through. The electric bolt that Pippy had fired continued to sail through the air and hit its mark perfectly. As Archer tried to dodge out of the attacks he left his device vulnerable and open. The bolt of electricity hit the open side of the machinery which was covered in wires, passed around the plastic and struck the inner heart of the device, a large but simple battery. The additional static caused the device to spark and malfunction as it overpowered. And, quite suddenly, the battery exploded. Acid and Electricity was sent flying out from the machine as it exploded, rendering it completely useless. Archer stared down in actual surprise. A small glob of acid had hit his cowl, dissolving away a small section of mask in seconds. Now at least half of his face was visible. He looked young. Very young in fact. A small wave of cyan blue hair was visible from under the hood, slightly covering one brown eye. His face was smooth with a sharp chin and short nose. Whatever was on the left side of his face was still not visible. He growled angrily at the trainer standing before him, his eyes burning with the fires of pure fury. "You!" He growled. "You destroyed my device! How?! It will take me ages to fix!" He snarled at Joe, pulling the PMED glove of his wrist and putting it back in his pocket. "At least the major components are still intact." He muttered to himself, just loud enough for Joe to here. He then looked back at the boy, his eyes blowing red now. Anger was the only thing showing on his face, nothing more than pure hatred. "Now we fight. No we shall meat in the unholy combat of a pokémon battle… and I! WILL! WIN!

Not one word more was spoken. With the graceless fling of a wrist Archer threw his first pokéball through the air, sending it sailing out onto the battlefield. When it opened it released out his instantly recognisable main pokémon. Houndoom. The large black coated horned fire dog prowled around in front of its master, waiting calmly for its orders. Joe sent Pippy out to fight against it. The small yellow Pikachu reluctantly took up its position on the battlefield. The darkness of the night sky grew intensely as the final hour of night had arrived, foreshadowing the furious, unremorseful battle that was about to follow. The only light around them came from the fog lights, the large sign on the side of the building and the landing lights around the helipad. Archer made the first command.

"Shadow Ball!" He roared at the top of his voice. Houndoom began to gather dark ghostly energy up in its mouth, shaped into a spherical blob and aimed it at Pippy.

"Thunderbolt!" Joe instructed. Pippy quickly gathered static in its cheeks and fired, releasing a long bolt of electricity out at Houndoom at the same time it released its shadow ball. Both pokémon fired and both pokémon missed as they tried to shoot and dodge at the same time. Archer growled.

"Use Flamethrower!" He exclaimed.

"Slam it!" Joe shouted at the same time. Both pokémon ran forwards at each other, readying attacks and growing ever faster. Then, about ten metres away from each other, Houndoom stopped suddenly and took in a deep breath. When it breathed out it sent out a black and red plume of wafting fire. Pippy however had been tensed for this. As he ran forwards he jumped upwards just as Houndoom released its flamethrower and narrowly avoided getting hit, singeing the smallest hairs on the tip of his tail. Pippy flew over Houndoom and slammed belly first onto its lower back, knocking its feet out from under it. Houndoom yelped in surprise as its rear legs fell away under it as the force from Pippy's attack caused them to go limp. Pippy jumped off out of the way of another flamethrower just in time but the exes fire that hit Houndoom did no damage to it at all. In fact it seemed to be made stronger by this as it suddenly got back up onto all fours, looking very angry.

"Excellent! Now use Crunch!" Archer hollered. Houndoom rushed forwards towards Pippy and snapped him up in its jaw, crushing him between its teeth.

"Pippy!" Joe called out in fear, even Ralph flinched but there was nothing ever of them would be able to do. Houndoom began to shake its head violently, causing Pippy to tumble around in its jaws as its teeth dug into his body. Then a second later it released him, loosening its jaws and letting Pippy go sailing across the rooftops back towards Joe. He landed painfully on his face, his fur matted and wet from Houndooms saliva and his skin gut from its teeth but he was not giving up just yet. He suddenly multiplied into a huge ring of Pikachu's each glaring at Houndoom and readying a thunderbolt attack. Houndoom charged at the first one it saw, crashing straight through it and causing the image to disappear. A second later it was struck in the side by a thunderbolt. It spun around angrily, looking for whomever it was that had done that. It was hit again, this time in the back by another thunderbolt. It spun around wildly but could not see the target. Archer began to get angry now.

"Look you dumb mutt, Use Solar Beam on all of them!" He yelled. Houndoom flinched at his call. Then it began to gather green light energy in its mouth. The light took longer to form as the sun was not out but it kept growing till eventually it was bigger than Houndooms jaw.

"Pippy, Stop it, Quick!" Joe called. Pippy did so. He jumped up and fired another thunderbolt which struck Houndoom in the shoulder but it did not stop its attack. Now the beam was bigger than its entire body height. Pippy then decided to do the only thing he could do. He quickly created a substitute pokémon and hid behind that, placing it in the ring of double team copies in front of him. Finally, after what seemed like ages anticipating, Houndoom fired. The force and power of the Solarbeam it released was overwhelming. There was nothing that Pippy could have done to prepare for it. The huge beam of light shot out at the speed of light and engulfed all of the copies in front of it. Pippy held onto his substitute for dear life but even that was not strong enough to stand up to Houndooms attack. It dissolved away in Pippy's hands and as he looked up surprised and terrified the beam hit him full on in the chest, engulfing him, the air around him, his ring of copies and almost all of the rooftop with bright green-white light. When it faded away, Pippy was laying a few metres further back then he had been, not moving out of pure exhaustion. Archer clicked his fingers.

"One down and I haven't even started yet." He laughed, maliciously. Joe glared at him. The attack had seemed so much like overkill. Houndoom had gone all out in taking out just one of his pokémon. It wasn't even down to half health and it had that much power. Quickly he withdrew his exhausted Pikachu from the battle and clipped the ball back to his belt.

"Good try, buddy." He whispered to it. Then he reached for another pokéball. He readied that in his hand and threw it into the air. "Come on out, Sirena!" He called as the ball snapped open and the red beam of light revealed a large shelled marine like beast with a long neck and small horn on its forehead. Joe's latest pokémon, Lapras, sat at its side of the battlefield, a small puddle of water lying underneath it and allowing it to move around on land. Archer seemed a little surprise.

"Hm. Lapras. That's a new one." He thought aloud. Then he shook a hand away. "Never mind that. Houndoom, Shadow ball!" He called. Houndoom began to form the large ghostly ball of energy from its mouth and fired it directly at Sirena. The attack struck her in the belly but she resisted it, seemingly taking very little damage.

"Use Ice beam!" Joe shouted. "Freeze it to the ground!" Sirena did just that. A small thin ball of ice formed in her beak like mouth and when she fired a long, hair thin beam shot out across the field and hit Houndooms front legs, freezing them solid to the floor. Houndoom took one look at the ice covering its leg and immediately began breathing fire onto it, melting away the attack in seconds. As it was concentrated with that, however it looked back up to see a huge wave of water heading straight for it. There was no way it was going to avoid this attack. Defeated, Houndoom stood where it was, readying a Solarbeam and trying to blast the wave away but the attack simply passed straight through it, hitting nothing but the sky. A second later the wave struck. When it did Houndoom was washed away across the rooftop. When the water died away it was left lying on its side at the far end of the terrace, unmoving. A few seconds later and Archer withdrew it from the battle, glaring maliciously at the new creature that sat before him.

"God Damn You and your pokémon!" He snarled. Then he reached for another pokéball. Without any flick of the hand or even movement from his body the ball was sent out onto the field, releasing a strange looking squid like pokémon. It had a huge helix spiralling shell with several small spikes running down the centre of it. At the front of the creature was a disgusting looking head which poked out from the shell. It had two large slit pupil eyes with a huge gaping pincer mouth. At the side of its head six tentacles, both long and short, were poking out lashing at the air around it, either sensing its surroundings or attempting to look threatening. Joe, Ralph and Sirena all recoiled in mild disgust. Archer had a sinister smile crossing his face now. He raised a hand out and called his attack.

"Omastar, use Rain Dance!" His large fossil ammonite pokémon began sloshing and sliding around on the ground, creating a large puddle of water in which it floated as it shook about, shaking its shell and waiving its tentacles high in the air. As it did so small droplets of water began to fall. It started as a shower at first… then it became a pure downpour as heavy droplets of rain splashed down onto the battlefield, covering the entire rooftop with slowly rising water. Omastar was thrashing about on its side of the field faster now as the rain seemed to allow it more speed in its movements. Joe wasn't worried by this.

"Sirena, use Psychic!" He instructed. Sirena released a large ball of pink psychic energy which engulfed the foe Omastar in seconds. When it faded away the beast was still standing. Omastar clacked its jaw together as it and Sirena squared of around each other, a light pool of water lifting them an inch of the ground. Archer and Joe's eyes met for a split second, sharing the mutual hatred for each other then parting gaze and returning to their side of the battlefield, commanding their team.

"Spike Cannon!" Omastar fired the spikes running down its shell at Sirena, three of them hitting their target and doing some mild damage.

"Body Slam!" Sirena swam forwards, propelling herself with her two rear fins and ramming the full front of her body into Omastar, knocking it back.

"Hydro Pump!" Omastar fired a heavy torrent of rapid water from its beak but instead of doing any damage the chilled water simply washed of Sirena's shell. She stretched her neck, looking suddenly more refreshed as the water healed her health back up. Archer cursed under his breath. Figuring he should have seen that coming.

"Surf!" Sirena rose up on a looming wave of rain water and charged back down, hitting Omastar in the face and doing not a terribly large amount of damage but enough to knock it back. Evidently it did not have the same water absorb ability that Sirena had. It was however moving a lot faster in the rain and if it kept up it could easily win by outmanoeuvring Joe's pokémon. "Keep going, Sirena!" Joe cheered on. "Keep hitting it like this and we could win." No sooner than he said it, Archer suddenly began to smile.

"That's what you think." He whispered. Then he raised a hand. "Omastar, use Ice beam on its fins!" He instructed. Omastar gathered freezing cold air in its mouth and fixed it into an attack, aiming its head at Sirena's front flippers.

"Quick, freeze its mouth!" Joe cried, seeing the oncoming threat. Sirena did so, readying her own ice beam and releasing it a split second before Omastar. Both ice beams crossed paths and exploded at the point they met into shards of ice like a glass bottle smashing on a table. Both beams however kept going, hitting the targets they had originally aimed for. Sirena yowled like a fog horn in surprised as the ice beam hit her right flipper and froze it into a block of ice, stopping her from swimming with it. Omastar's mouth was encased in a large cube of frozen water as well. However it had a way of breaking out. With a simple swipe of its tentacles and a gnash of its sharp beak, the ice shattered into several pieces, freeing it from its temporary holdback. Archer smirked to himself.

"Now, wrap it up!" He instructed, a malicious tone in his voice. Omastar sped forwards, stretched out its tentacles and literally began to wrap up its opponent. While Sirena was unable to move due to the large block of ice on her flipper, Omastar latched onto the side of her shell with its beak and began to climb, reaching her back and holding itself tight. Then, with little warning or time to react, it reached out with its free tentacles and grabbed Sirena's head, wrapping her eyes closed and yanking her neck back, causing her to lean back and loose any sense of direction. She thrashed about, trying to remove the prehistoric octopus creature from her neck as it pulled back against her, but unable to see what she was doing she began to slip and slide around the rooftop, getting dangerously close to the edge at one point.

"Sirena, stop thrashing!" Joe instructed. He paused, trying to think up a way to get the pokémon of her neck and defeated. There was one possibility but it wasn't the best option as it could mean knocking his own pokémon out in the process. "Body Slam yourself against the wall!" He shouted. Sirena looked confused. She looked around to stare at Joe but because she was currently blind she ended up looking out at the sky. "Just trust me!" He instructed. Sirena sighed. Without any further hesitation she shot backwards, the ice on her flipper melting away into cool water and her shelled body swimming at an incredible speed backwards, aimed for the doorway which Joe had come through. She crashed suddenly into the stairway wall, taking not only herself by surprise but also the Omastar. Sirena collapsed weakly to the ground, all her strength taken from her from her thrashing around and the force of the impact. Omastar however was only just still strong enough to fight. Weakly it let go of Sirena's neck, leaving a bite mark on the nape and slid back down to the water soaked roof surface, looking very tired but just about capable of fighting still. With a disappointed sigh Joe withdrew Sirena into her pokéball, thanked her and put the ball back onto his belt. He then readied the next pokéball, not even looking back up to see Archer's chuffed expression. He simply slid it of his belt and released his third pokémon. "Go Pitt!" he called as the pokéball sailed through the air and released his large plant dinosaur pokémon. Pit growled and aimed his flower at Omastar. Archer continued to smirk.

"Ice Beam!" He instructed. Omastar readied its freezing cold beam again. But Joe had been anticipating this.

"Charge your Solarbeam." He instructed. "Then hold it and use protect." He added, whispering now. Pitt nodded and did so. Green solar light began to gather at the flower head. Omastar released its attack, sending out a shooting long beam of thin ice. The ice struck the suddenly appearing protect shield which Pitt had set up, surprising his opponent who had not seen it coming. Pitt grinned evilly at Omastar who starred in surprise and sudden impending fear. His shield faded and he continued to gather light. Because it was night it was tougher for him to gather enough energy but there was just enough for him to perform the attack. As he finally finished charging up the beam convulsed, faded away for a short second, and then fired like a missile from a launcher at full strength. The beam of green struck Omastar straight through the chest and cloaked it in green light. When the light faded Omastar lay shrunk into its large shell, unable to battle any longer. Without hesitation Archer withdrew his pokémon, staring maliciously at the opposing trainer who was currently managing to thrash him. A low growl came from his clenched teeth.

"Half my team down!" He snarled, spitting to the side, disgustingly. "No matter. I can still win this!" He muttered as he reached for his third pokéball. As he unclipped it from his belt and sent it sailing through the air he gave a strangely sarcastic sad look at Pitt. This soon faded back to his monstrous knowing smile. As the ball clicked open it sent the red light out and a new pokémon appear. The new pokémon he had sent out looked like nothing Joe or Ralph had ever seen or expected to see. It was tall with tough stone brown shell skin and a large, flat yet arrow shaped head and two small evil eyes. It had two long thin arms which ended in sharper, raking claws, like a scyther's except much longer and more dangerous looking. Down its back ran several small spines on each side, similar to that of a sandslash's spines with a long thin tail protruding from the back. It stood tall on two long, thin, multi-jointed legs with two toed feet, glaring at the opponent before it. The creature looked absolutely terrifying in the night time lighting. Its shell reflected the roof lights like rainbow colours. Archer rose up his hand. "Kabutops, Slash!" He commanded. Kabutops raised its claws up and tapped them together, emitting a hideous screech from its hidden mouth. Then suddenly it was gone, disappearing in a flash as it shot forwards to attack.

"Quickly, use Protect!" Joe instructed. Just in time Pitt managed to create an energy feel just as Kabutops swung its scythe down. The tip only just made it through, snapping across Pitts face and causing some damage. The rest of it bounced back of the shield in surprise and landed on the wet raining floor. Pitt chuckled painfully, a small scar appearing from cheek to chin down the left side of his face. Kabutops quickly got itself back up in a flash of movement and began slashing again, still hitting the barrier, still with no success. As suddenly as it had appeared, however, the barrier began to fade as Kabutops' attacks got more vicious. Finally, with the sound of breaking glass, the shield shattered and Kabutops landed its attack… into the charging back of Pitt who had rushed it in one futile final attempt. He rammed Kabutops in the gut and tackled it over, landing on top of it as its long scythe claws slashed his back, glowing insect green at the tips. Pitt collapsed, his legs sprawled out as he fell unconscious and unable to keep battling. Kabutops continued to struggle under Pitt's weight until finally it pushed itself free. It pulled its legs out from under his belly and glared at Joe now, readying up for its next target. Joe withdrew Pitt and returned him to his pokéball. Now he had only three pokémon left. Without a second thought he released Carter out onto the battle. Archer greeted this threat with another sinisterly knowing smile.

"Swords Dance!" He instructed, simply. Kabutops began to rub its blades together and wave them above its head, slashing at the air above and testing out its strength. Carter rolled his eyes at its showing off.

"Meditate!" Joe instructed as well. Carter simply sat down and positioned himself into a cross legged position, closing his eyes and opening his mind. Kabutops lowered its scythes again and tapped the edges together, creating a light tapping sound of bone on bone. Suddenly Archer began bellowing commands.

"Slash!" He shouted. Kabutops shot forwards again, scythes raised high, ready to cut down. Carter did not move. Kabutops was right in front of him now. Still he did not move. Suddenly, when Kabutops' claws were mere inches away from his face, slicing in a pincer movement, Carter's eyes snapped open. He jumped high over Kabutops' head, narrowly avoiding the slicing action Kabutops had made with its arms. Kabutops looked down in surprise to see Carter was no longer in front of it. It look back and up to see the hitmonlee falling back down to earth, one leg extended, the other pulled back with both arms held out. He landed safely on both feet, leaning on his arms and positioned like a sprinter on the starting line. Then he ran forwards, flying through the air, one long but powerful leg stretched out and aimed at Kabutops' face. It struck with a sickening thud knocking Kabutops back with the immense force and even cracking a small part of its shell. Kabutops fell backwards and landed on the floor, looking at itself in the rainwater. It saw the cracks forming on its face, the scars on its arms, the pain running from its eyes. It looked back up and growled at Carter. Then it rushed in to attack again, shooting forwards towards its opponent, sword arms out like a pincer.

"Brick Break!" Joe called out. Carter readied a palm to strike Kabutops in the chest as it came in to attack.

"Aerial Ace!" Archer cried suddenly. Kabutops suddenly sped up its running, its claw glowing sky blue now and its eyes fixed on Carter. Carter struck out, expecting to hit it in the chest but instead of Kabutops just running straight at him like normal it took him by surprise. Carter watched as the ancient fossil pokémon jumped over him, spinning in a circle before landing properly behind him and striking him in the back with its attack. The effect that it created was immense. The second its claw tip struck Carter could feel the severe slicing power of a gale force wind striking him in the back. He fell forwards, dragging himself along the ground. Kabutops walked behind him, claws readied, head twitching, eyes burning deep blood red. It loomed over the severely injured fighting pokémon, no sense of remorse in its cold expression. It was aiming to kill now, no matter what its master may say it was going to finish this foe with one fowl swipe.

"Carter, no!" Joe exclaimed, fearing that the worst was going to happen. Carter looked up at him, pain crossing his face. He saw the worried expression on his trainers face. He saw the fear for his own showing I true. He knew then that he could not just lie down and give up. Kabutops raised one claw up, ready to stab through Carter's chest. Then, without any warning, taking Kabutops completely by surprise, Carter kicked up with one glowing brown and white leg. The attack struck Kabutops in the chest with one sharp movement, causing the hard shell to crack. A split second later and Kabutops went sailing across the rooftop, flying far back until finally it hit the railing at the opposite end and fell still and leaning forwards onto its lap, rain running down its flat shovel shaped head. Its shell was shattered across its body and through small gaps could be seen soft, pale brown flesh. Kabutops was not just unconscious, it was deceased. Archer looked back at his fallen pokémon's corpse, his expression not only anger but also slight fearful surprise. He turned back, glaring at the one who had pulled off the attack.

"You… killed one of my pokémon!" He muttered, hatred and fury blazing inside his words. Joe, while he did not look happy about the extreme action Carter had taken, couldn't help but smile slightly. Kabutops had been a nasty piece of work and if he hadn't done that and it had lived then who knows what else it could have done. Keeping his slightly smirk expression was all he could do not to punch the air for joy.

"Your pokémon was out of control." Joe explained. "It was perfectly content with killing my own pokémon. I could not allow it to live, in case it decided to randomly attack an innocent and maybe kill them too." Archer's brow lowered, squinting his eyes into a malicious, hate filled glare.

"Alright, so that's how you're going to play? When this is over and I have won I swear on the lord Arceus' name that the last things you hear are the pain fuelled cries of your dying pokémon at your side and the click of a gun barrel to your forehead!" Joe was surprised to hear sadness in Archer's voice. He seemed upset by the loss of a team member. Was it possible that this monster in front of him was still a little human inside? If it was, Joe thought, then maybe there was a way to convince him to stop.

"Archer, don't do this." Joe pleaded. "What good can come of it for you? This battling is so meaningless. You have only one pokémon left. And even if you win where will you go. Your grunts downstairs are occupied and the prisoners you took are contacting the police. You can't win. Just give up now and save yourself further pain." Archer looked back up at Joe, a small tear sliding down his cheek. His face was still an expression of hatred.

"Stupid boy!" He growled. "What good can come of it? I can take over all of Kanto, that's what! I can take on you! I can take on the world! Nothing anyone can do or say will ever stop me!" Joe looked desperately at him.

"Please!" He said, not deceivingly or maliciously, but honestly. He really meant what he was saying. "Rethink your plan. Even if you do win you'll be surrounded and captured by the police. Your pokémon can't protect you from them if they're dead or unconscious. If you just give up now and disband Team Rocket then I'll tell them to let you go. I swear I will." Archer narrowed his brow. There was no sense of respect or surrender in his expression. No realisation of how badly he was losing. He just saw the cause he had and the obstacles in his way.

"Do you take me for an idiot?!" He roared. "I know exactly what I am doing. I know what my plan is. I cannot be defeated, not by you or the police or the Champion or anyone. I will never ever surrender just because you say I can't win!"

"He has a point." Cheng suddenly butted in, speaking quietly. Before he could even say another word Archer swung at him, striking him with his fist on the side of the face and knocking him to the ground.

"SHUT UP!" he screamed, fury taking over his entire body. "I AM ARCHER! I AM THE KING OF TEAM ROCKET! I AM THE KING OF THIS WORLD! I SHALL NOT BE DEFEATED!" He turned back at Joe, glaring with burning bright red fire eyes. He reached for his final pokéball. "I AM GOING TO SLAUGHTER YOU. AND WHEN YOU ARE GONE I SHALL FIND YOUR FAMILY AND SLAUGHTER THEM TOO. I SHALL BURN YOUR ENTIRE HOME TO THE GROUND! I SHALL NOT FALL HERE! I SHALL NOT FALL ANYWHERE! I... AM... YOUR... GOD!"

* * *

**I've had to split this part into two because it's just so long. Sorry. The second part will finish it off.**


	33. Chapter 33: Hail Archer!

Archer threw the final pokéball through the air and released his final pokémon. Of all the pokémon Joe had seen him use this last one was actually the least surprising. Before him stood a large, purple hided, pale bellied, long spiked, rabbit eared nidoking. Nidoking stared at Joe and his team. Cinders, hearing the entire ruckus from inside his pokéball had released himself out onto the battle field to fight alongside Carter. Ralph also had take up position to fight seeing the new opponent before them. None of them had a solid strength against it and each of them knew they would need to give their all now to win. Joe looked at his three still standing pokémon lined up protecting him from the danger ahead.

"Ralph, Cinders, what are you doing?" He asked. They looked back at him, brows furrowed and expressions stern. They were fighting for him and only him. They were willing to even give up their own lives just so Joe could prove he was right. Archer could not win the war, even if he won the battle. "Joe saw the determination in their eyes. The solid steel wall that held them together as friends, as equals, as a team. In synchronisation all three of them turned back around to face Nidoking, their steely expressions not breaking for a second. Nidoking stared back at them, not a shred of guilt or disapproval or distaste or discomfort or anything that may show it was goodhearted passed over its face. Archer clenched his fist, his face glowered at the three opposing pokémon before it.

"Thrash!" He instructed simply. Nidokings eyes began to glow deep red and it began to flail and thrash about with its arms, striking at the air before it in fury and charging straight into the trio. Ralph an Cinders flew out of range while Carter was forced to dodge out of the way as Nidokings fist struck the hard metal rooftop and smashed through it, leaving a dent. It pulled its arm back out and roared at the sky, turning back around and charging at Carter again. This time he was less luck as he tried to jump out of the way Nidoking spun around and hit him back with his tail. Carter struck the ground heavily, bumping his head. Nidoking was about to crush him with his arms when Cinders flew in and struck Nidoking in the back, knocking it off balance and stalling its attack. Nidoking looked back and roared up at him, flinging its arms about. Carter took this opportunity to slide away out of site and recuperate quickly before fighting again. Ralph came flying in now, readying to ram Nidoking in the gut but Nidoking simply stepped aside and Ralph went flying past off into the night. When he came back around Nidoking had managed to grab a hold of one of Carters legs and was preparing to throw him at him.

"Cinders, Quick! Stop it!" Joe instructed. Cinders flew back overhead, releasing a boiling hot purple flaming Dragon Rage all over Nidokings back, causing it to flinch up and drop Carter again. This time Nidoking was going to do something about the flying pests. As Cinders came flying back in to attack again Nidoking opened its mouth and white light began to form from inside. Immediately Joe saw the danger. "LOOK OUT!" He cried. Cinders looked down and saw the hyper beam readying in Nidokings mouth. He tried to dodge but by the time he did it was already too late. Nidoking released its attack and the beam shot out and struck Cinders in the side, knocking him out of the air. The young charizard hit the metal rooftop with a heavy thud, lying at the edge unconscious. Carter and Ralph stared in surprise. How had Nidoking done so much damage? Now they knew it was probably best to take it out close up rather than at long range. Archer was smiling furiously now, showing glistening pearl teeth through his melted mask.

"Mega Horn!" He roared in command. Nidoking lowered its head and the long horn on its nose began to glow bug green with power. Then, at the speed of a rampaging train, it charged forwards, digging up the roof as it did so. Carter jumped aside just in time but Ralph was less lucky, taking the full force of the attack in his face. Luckily he was resistant to bug type moves so the attack did not damage him too badly. He recovered quickly, flew overhead and struck Nidoking in the back with a wing attack. Nidoking flinched and growled at him. It suddenly jumped up into the air about four inches from the ground. When he landed again the entire rooftop shook wildly. The ground below them began to quake and ripple like a stone hitting still water. Carter was hit by the full force of the attack as he rushed in to strike Nidoking while its back was turned. He was knocked of his feet and crushed by the moving ground till he could stand no longer. When the quaking stopped the roof was left a destroyed wreck. The metal flooring of the terrace was dug up and jagged with cracks all around and lumps of earth sprouting out from seemingly nowhere. Carter was crushed under a huge wave of mud and stone and metal, not moving but still breathing. Only Ralph was left now. He had been lucky enough to avoid most of the attack but how well he would do now was another matter. Archer smiled evilly, his eyes burning with not only anger but borderline madness. He cackled sinisterly. "NOW LOOK WHERE YOU ARE!" he cawed. "DOWN TO JUST ONE POKEMON. WE SHALL SEE WHO IT IS WHO NEEDS TO RETHINK THEIR PLAN NOW!" He turned sharply to Nidoking, all sense of morality and logic long gone. "HYPER BEAM THE BOY!" He screamed. Nidoking did not argue. Like the good slave that it was it turned back to the battle and readied a hyper beam, aiming it straight at Joe's chest.

"NO!" Joe looked at the beast and held out his flat arms, trying to look disarming but it was having none of it. There would be nothing he could do that would stop what was going to happen next. Ralph stared open mouthed and wide eyed at the beast, then at his friend. In a flash of purple he sped through the air to stand in front of Joe, wailing in fear and concern echoing in his trail. Archer's grin covered almost all of his face now. He was so desperate to win that he would never ever back down now. His morality had hit lower than his sanity. In a final moment of realisation Joe remembered his shield. He looked down at the wrist device which looked to be still intact. He reached for the button and Nidoking fired. The hyper beam shot out over the rooftop at the speed of light, aimed at the young trainer's body. Ralph, moving at the speed of sound skidded to a stop in front of his friend, holding out all four of his wings to take the attack for him. Joe's finger pressed in the button and immediately the protect shield grew out from it, covering them in a force field… just as the hyper beam struck. The light pummelled into the barrier and pushed against it, not stopping for even a second. Joe and Ralph stood tense still, not even daring to expect for the best. Suddenly, like snapping fibreglass, the barrier around them began to break. The power of the hyper beam was just too much for it to take. Its power was being drained. Then, suddenly and with little warning, the shield faded and the beam struck the duo, knocking them far back and engulfing them in blinding white light. Archer gasped, amazed, his fists clenching and punching the air with malicious joy. Nidoking finally stopped its attack and stood still, breathing heavily, eyes still burning. The light from the attack finally faded away, revealing the scorched rooftop in front of them. A few metres further back then before lay Joe and Ralph, lying in each other's arms, exhausted and defeated for a second time. Joe coughed weakly as the dust from the debris caught in his lungs.

"N…no…" He muttered, softly. "N…no! I … lost!" He gasped for air as Ralph stirred at his side. He was hardly conscious. He had taken the full front of the attack and had suffered severely for it. Joe closed his eyes and concentrated on breathing. Cheng looked in horror at what his so called leader had done. The boy was hardly living anymore. He was nothing more than a matt for him to walk over. He turned to his commander who was just smiling madly, so proud of himself. He trotted forwards, pulling a gun out from his pocket. Joe felt someone standing on his arm. He screamed and looked up to see Archer's full face, now completely unmasked, glaring down at him, a sick, psychotic, malicious smile crossing it from ear to ear. He pressed his foot down harder and listened gloriously to Joe's scream of pain.

"Look at you?!" He laughed, so evilly that he could hardly breathe. "Look at the esteemed hero! Chosen by a legendary itself to guard and protect humanity and pokémon from the likes of me! We look at yourself now!" He spat, kicking Joe in the ribs. Joe winced and lashed out at Archer's leg only to have his arm stood on now and pressed into the ground. "Look what has become of you! You had the honour and respect of ethereal being son your side! I did not! Look who has turned out the victor!" He raised his arms to the sky. In the distance the sun had just peaked over the horizon. Its golden glow illuminated Archer's side, making him turn orange in its light. "I did not need the great Lord Giovanni's guidance to prove my power! I did not need the aid off legendary pokémon! I did it all by myself! Me! Archer! The looser! The sick child! Well they shall all eat their words when I set on a throne of their husks! I shall conquer this land then move on to the next and the next, nothing standing in my way every! And it's all thanks to you!" He readied his handgun now, aiming the barrel and fired. The bullet sped forwards and shredded through the skin of Ralph's right wing. He yelled out in pain as the bullet left a gaping, bleeding hole in his wing. Joe hugged him tight, trying to comfort his suffering. Ralph was struggling to stay conscious now, his head spinning with sudden blood loss.

"Please." Joe begged. "You don't need to do this. You can still change." He rasped. Archer shook his head.

"YOU ARE BEATEN, BOY!" HE SHOUTED, DEAFENING Joe's weak, bleeding ears even further. "Do you not understand when you are defeated?! I still managed to destroy you and your pokémon without my PMED in working condition. You are nothing more than a failure of a hero! You lost and now you pay the price!" He clicked the gun again, coking it and readying to fire again. The doorway from the stairs burst open and Winter and Rocky were shoved through it, their hands and legs tied. Following them were the Rocket Elites and Commander Wharton. The two trainers hit the ground painfully and looked up to see Archer standing over their friend.

"Joe!" Winter called out, only to be struck on the face by the Elite Captain.

"Shut It!" He snarled. Wharton's expression upon seeing Archer holding a gun to the trainer went from smug success to surprise, then fear.

"Archer, what are you doing?" He demanded, concern coating his words. Archer looked over at him, evil eyes blazing.

"Finishing this!" He snarled. Then he saw the two trainers he had dragged with him. "Ah, and I see you've brought up his companions. Brilliant! I'll take care of them in a minute." He laughed. Wharton continued to stare at him.

"You can't just kill him!" He snapped.

"Can't I?!" Archer snapped, raising an eyebrow. Wharton looked to Cheng for help but he just stood back, not moving.

"No, it's wrong." He continued. Archer suddenly exploded.

"You do not get to tell what is right and what is wrong!" He roared. "I am the leader of the Team! I make the tough choices! I get to say what is wrong!" He turned back to Joe.

"Leave him alone." Rocky shouted at him. "Do you have no honour, no morality in you?" He demanded. Archer slowly turned back to him.

"What does honour have to do with it?" He demanded. "What does any of you or your friend's tauros muck have to do with this!" He roared. "He lost! I won! He Dies! END OF!" He turned back to Joe and stood over him again, aiming his gun. "Just look at you!" He hissed. "Once the possible hero of Kanto, now a ruined body under my feet. You are nothing! In fact you are less than nothing!" He reloaded his handgun. "And now I'm going to do what my commanders should have done a long time ago!" He whispered sinisterly, clipping the next cartridge into the handle. Suddenly Joe began to smile.

"You're wrong." He muttered, coughing up a small amount of blood.

"What?" Archer asked. Joe smile, blood trickling from his mouth.

"You're wrong!" Joe repeated, speaking a little louder now. "I'm not nothing! I saved Ralph, my best friend, from being killed by beedrills. I took care of him, fed him, kept him healthy and made him my closest and most reliable ally, and I have never regretted it. I stood up for the people of Kanto against your team and their wrath. I never backed down, not once. I never questioned why I was doing it. I never thought twice. I only knew that if I didn't then it was already over. I never turned my back on my team or my friends or anyone who needed a hand to get up or a shoulder to cry on and they never gave up on me. Together we pushed ourselves to become the best we could and we succeeded. I did my best to fight for what was right and guess what, I still succeeded. Me and my friends we still managed to win! You may have defeated me here today but just think. Me, a nothing, a nobody managed to come in here and nearly defeat you. What does that say to you? I'm not a nobody! I'm not worthless or pointless or stupid or daft or hopelessly out of my league. I'm just me. That's all I've ever been and that's all I will ever be. Just me. Just me!" he laughed loudly, stifling a cough. "And look what I just did. I nearly beat Team Rocket. And guess what! There are more me's out there somewhere! More people out there who will stand up for what they believe in. People like me who know that when the going gets tough you fight back and defeat those who would wish harm on your family or aim to steal your way of life. People like me who do not back down in the face of danger. So no matter what you do here today, no matter how powerful you get, no matter how far you go in becoming your almighty king, no matter how insane you turn during that process… just remember me! Remember Me! Remember how I nearly beat you! Then remember that there are more me's out there! My name is Joseph Derek Arthur Glende!..." He smiled up at Archer who was looking wide eyed down at him. "And never ever forget it!" Archer growled, furiously. He kicked Joe in the head and knelt over him, pressing the handgun barrel to his head.

"DIE!" He shouted, pressing his finger against the trigger. Joe closed his eyes and readied himself for what would come next….

But the bullet never came. Suddenly, out of seemingly nowhere, the sound of helicopter blades became ominously audible as it faded in from the distance, slowly getting louder and louder. Joe felt the pressure of the gun barrel lifting from his temple with surprising relaxedness. Cautiously he opened one eye again and looked up. Archer was no longer kneeling over him, prepared to finish him off, but was now standing up, looking behind him at something in the distance. Joe's other eye opened now, as did Ralphs. The two of them leaden around the commander's legs to see what was happening. Exactly as it sounded, a small, black, business class helicopter was flying towards them, not terribly fast but still quite quickly. As it reached the Silph Co tower it slowed and finally stopped, hovering stilly over the landing pad. On one sliding door, glistening in the dawn light, was a large, bold letter R, but instead of being red it was black. Then the helicopter began to descend, slowly lowering itself down out of the air as its main rotor began to spin slower. And, with a light metallic tap, the helicopter touched down on the red and grey H pad under it. The door to the small flight vehicle slowly slid open and a figure stood in the doorway, wearing a neat black suit and red tie. All three commanders collectively gasped in surprise, awe, confusion and mild joy. Cheng and Wharton suddenly dropped to their knees, bowing down before this new figure that had just arrived. Arched did not bow, instead continuing to stare at this well dressed man with short, combed back hair and square jaw. The figure stepped from the helicopter, followed by a large white cat pokémon with a red sphere jewel on its forehead. Six smart looking, white suit wearing Rocket grunts following after him, rushing one by one out from the helicopter doorway. They didn't look to be commanders but instead another class of Rocket soldier. Interestingly enough they did not carry any guns or weapons on them. They lined up in rows of three besides the figure as he walked forwards, moving sternly towards the Commanders.

"Hello again, boys." The man announced in a strong, commanding voice, a slightly malevolent smile on the edge of his lips. Archer gulped, his eyes fidgeting around, glancing from person to person before finally landing back on this new character.

"Lord Giovanni…" He spoke suddenly, withdrawing his pokémon and hiding the handgun behind his back. The figure nodded, simply. "I had no idea that you were on your way. I would have clean up the place." Archer continued, giving a small fake laugh. Giovanni's smile faded away in seconds. Archer gulped again, pulling on his collar. "I was just, uh… dealing with a small problem we have had with intruders. We nearly have the situation resolved." He explained, nodding subtly and glancing down at Joe and Ralph. Joe was currently very confused.

"Giovanni?" He muttered, thinking the name over. "No. He can't be the _real_ Giovanni, can he?"He reached to scratch his head only to find that Archer was still standing on it. Ralph just stared at the Ex-Team Rocket boss, eyes wide with fear. Joe looked down at him, seeing his terrified expression and patted his head with his free hand. Giovanni finally caught a glimpse of Joe and Ralph from behind Archer, staring up at him in surprise.

"Who is this?" Giovanni demanded, keeping his voice calm yet somehow unnerving and intimidating. The cat pokémon beside him purred loudly and he stroked its neck.

"Just a pestering trainer. Don't worry about him. He'll be leaving soon." Archer explained. Giovanni raised an eyebrow.

"What are you three doing back here? I thought that is disbanded Team Rocket eight years ago. Why am I suddenly hearing that they have returned with a new leader?" He asked, his voice growing slightly more sinister and a hell of a lot more intimidating. Suddenly Joe realised where he had recognised him before. He was the figure he had seen in his dreams. The one who told him to give up Ralph. Why had he been there? How was he relevant to him or Ralph? Archer scratched his cheek, feeling anxious.

"Y…you did!" He stumbled quickly. "But I rejoined it last year in secrecy. I… I mean we found a way to recreate the power of legendary pokémon for human use. I thought you would be proud of our achievements?" He admitted. Giovanni just continued to look at him.

"Do you still have this device?" Giovanni asked suddenly. Archer's brow rose in surprise. He gulped.

"Uh… not exactly." He explained. Giovanni raised an eyebrow.

"Why?"

"Uh…" Archer pulled out the damaged PMED glove from his large suit pockets. "It was damaged. The battery exploded. But don't worry I can fix it." He added quickly. Giovanni just shook his head, disappointed.

"Archer, what are you doing? I shut down Team Rocket for a reason. I did so because we had become tainted by the need to steal and control. But after a long time to think about it I managed to change my ways. I did not want one of my old commanders coming back and starting it up all over again. Team Rocket was always in the wrong and should never have been started." Archer stared wide eyed back.

"But we're not after trainer's pokémon anymore." Archer argued. "We don't need pokémon. With this device I can control the world on my own, with Team Rocket sitting at my side." Giovanni just glared at him.

"Do you not understand?" He asked, speaking louder now. Archer shuddered under the weight of his old leader's anger. "Team Rocket is OVER! Finished! Never to be started again! You should never have done what you have. Attacking cities, Killing pokémon, Destroying lives! Have you not learned anything from my teachings? This world isn't to be destroyed. In the past I stole pokémon for my own gain but I never wanted to rule people like they were slaves to my will." Archer began to get angry now.

"But, Giovanni, We have immense power in our hands. If you wanted to we could do anything. Steal thousands upon thousands of pokémon for our own cause!" Giovanni lowered his head, placing an open palm on it in severe disgrace.

"Why would I want thousands of pokémon under my control? I realise now that to be happy or wealthy or loved you don't need power. You just need to realise yourself. Who you are. I no longer want to steal or harm. Now all I want is to make this world better. You are sick, Archer. Plain and simple." Cheng and Wharton glanced at each other, confused.

"So, wait. You want us to stop being a part of Team Rocket?" Wharton asked. Giovanni nodded. Archer looked down at his feet. When he looked back up his face was red with rage.

"Where do you get off?" He snarled, quietly. Giovanni looked back at him. "Who do you think you are coming back here after leaving us for eight years and telling us to leave! What makes you think you have the right to do anymore?"He began to shout. His two commandeered looked at him, surprised.

"Archer, remember who you're talking to." Cheng hissed. Wharton however remained quiet. Archer glared at Cheng, then Wharton.

"Don't tell me you're going to do what he says!" He shouted at them, shocked they would even consider it. They both just looked back at him, pleading expressions on their faces.

"This has gone too far." Cheng continued. "Maybe it is time to stop. This group can't win this war. It's just fact." Archer bared his teeth at the commander in a furious snarl.

"So this is what its come down to, is it?" He growled. "Betrayed by my closest allies. Et Tu, Enlai?" He pointed back to Giovanni who was just watching quietly. "He comes back out of the blue, no forward letter, telling us to shut down! Like robots! Look at what we have achieved! What we can achieve! We could own this world! No more fighting for survival! We will be its kings! I'm not prepared to give up all we've done now. And you shouldn't either. You can't leave me! You will NOT LEAVE ME!" he screamed, turning back to face Giovanni. "And nothing you can say or do will make them!" Suddenly there was the light sound of ropes snapping. Archer turned back around to see Rocky and Winter being freed from their bonds. Wharton stood back up, a small knife in one hand, and a cluster of loose rope in the other. He looked sorrowfully at Archer, shaking his head slightly. Winter and Rocky quickly got to their feet, ran towards Joe, grabbed him and Ralph and pulled them aside, away from the commanders. Team Ace was also freed from their electric binds and they too rushed aside, out of the way of the confrontation. Archer stared at his commander, stunned and angry. "What are you doing?" He demanded. Wharton looked up at him, his sad eyes meeting his angry stare.

"Didn't you hear Giovanni?" He said. "We've lost. Team Rocket is finished." Archer's eyes grew wider.

"No! It isn't! We can still control the world!" He shouted.

"Listen to yourself!" Wharton shouted back. "This whole idea was ridiculous. Team Rocket is designed to fail. May as well still leave with our honour." He turned for the door. None of the soldiers tried to stop him. Archer growled and raised his gun out, aiming it at Wharton.

"Don't you turn your back on me!" He shouted, anger and stress pouring down his face. Wharton simply kept walking. Archer pulled the trigger. A single bullet shot out of the barrel and embedded in the centre of Wharton's spine. Wharton lurched forwards, nearly falling down the steps. Somehow however he stayed standing. He turned around to face Archer again, now pity in his eyes. He reached for his suit and un-clicked the top of it, pulling it down and revealing a bullet proof vest underneath. The bullet had been caught in the back of it.

"It's over, Archer." He explained, doing his suit back up and turning for the stairs again. "I'm sorry." He continued. Archer growled, throwing the gun on the floor, empty and useless.

"Get back here!" He shouted, furiously. "You cannot leave me! I'm Archer! I made team Rocket! I own you!" He stomped his foot furiously as Wharton disappeared down the stairs. Cheng just watched from aside, still quite surprised. Giovanni began to shake his head.

"Now do you see, Archer?" He asked. Archer spun around to face his old master, his teeth bared and his eyes burning red. "Do you see just how futile it is to fight this battle? No matter what you do Team Rocket cannot ever be a success. The sooner you realise that the less painful it will be. You've lost!" Giovanni stood, hands behind his back and the six guards beside him took a step forwards. Archer never took his eyes off of him, not even for a brief seconds. Pure hatred was the only emotion shedding on his face.

"No. I have not lost!" He snarled. "So long as I live and breathe so does Team Rocket. I will start again, rebuild, find new commanders. I will not let this dream fall like all the others!" He exclaimed. Giovanni sighed sadly.

"Alright. If that's what you want." He turned to his soldiers. "Restrain him." He instructed. The six white clothed Rocket grunts began marching forwards, fists raised, Archer backed away, not afraid yet still furious, towards the edge of the building. He waived a hand at his Elites and they joined his side as the six grunts encircled them against the barrier. Cheng however just continued to watch, his surprised expression finally changing to a small, pleased smile. Finally this monster was going to be put away. Archer back up and continued to glare at Giovanni, pure hatred consuming his soul. He suddenly stepped over the barrier and stood on the outside of the building, looking at everyone around him. His eyes met Joe's for a brief second and glared.

"I'll get you next time we meet." He whispered. He then glared back at Giovanni. "You'll be sorry." He hissed. "You'll all be very sorry! I still have my PMED and my guards at my side. Do not think that this is the last you have seen of Rocket Commander Archer." And suddenly he let go, falling away from the building arms out and down towards the ground. Unthinking the five rocket Elites followed after him, the captain giving them all a quick sinister glare before jumping. All of them rushed to the edge to see what had happened. Only a few metres away from the ground and flying at a relatively good speed were a large metal bird looking creature. On its back were Archer and all five of his Elites. They flew away towards the horizon on its back and eventually disappeared.

Suddenly everything went back to normal. The grunts that had been guarding the roof woke up and, after learning their leader had been defeated, left to find new jobs. Now only Joe and his friends were left. They stood in front of the Ex-Rocket leader, Commander Cheng still standing a few feet away. Team Ace was still hanging around, mainly out of fear that if they left suddenly Giovanni would hunt them down, too. Giovanni himself was currently standing in front of Joe, Winter and Rocky, the dawn sun now higher in the sky and turning it a calming blue. Behind him his guard were trying to clean up the rooftop from the damage it had taken. Giovanni smiled at the three trainers

"I cannot thank you enough for standing up to Archer for me." He told them, speaking in a slightly happier voice now, attempting a smile. "If you three hadn't been fighting back against him all this time then he may have been much quicker in getting this far and I wouldn't have learned about it. So thank you all." He held out his hand warmly towards them. One by one each of the trainers shook it. When that was done Giovanni withdrew his hand, his Persian, the white cat he had with him before, standing next to him. "But now I need to get onto a more serious note. Archer got away and he took that device with him. It's quite likely he will turn up again someday. I don't think it will be soon, however. During that time you can rest. I won't be able to fight him from now on, though. That task I must leave up to you." The three trainers looked at each other, confused.

"Why not?" Winter asked.

"Because of other things I have to deal with. Do not worry. I don't expect to see you again but you will always have my assistant looking out for you." He suddenly pointed behind them. The three trainers looked back. Samuel was watching them, arms behind back, a pleased smile growing on his face.

"You?" Joe asked. "Giovanni is your master?" Samuel nodded.

"He took me in four years ago. He helped me grow strong in the art of pokémon battling and gave me pokémon of my own to train with. He even gave me a gym to take charge of and battle challenging trainers in over in Viridian City" The trainers looked at him, a little surprised.

"You're the eighth gym leader?" Winter asked. Samuel nodded.

"Yeah. I'm relatively new. Giovanni told me to search for you, someone who could stop the new threat. I chose well, didn't I?" He smiled at Giovanni. Giovanni nodded.

"That you did, my apprentice." He told him. Samuel bower respectfully. "Samuel here has made sure that throughout your journey you have been kept safe and intent on fighting back against Team Rocket."

"Can I just ask something?" Joe asked suddenly. Giovanni looked down at him, and then nodded. "How did you know about Team Rockets return? I thought you had left for a secluded place to think over what you had done." Joe reminded him. Giovanni tilted his head, considering the question. Well Samuel told me about their return when he saw their grunts running into the pokémon centre at viridian. But for the events today I was told about them by an old old friend of mine. Someone you know very well." Joe looked confused by this at first. Then suddenly he remembered.

"My uncle told you about them?" He asked. Giovanni nodded.

"He found me at my temple to the northern side of the mountain a day ago. He explained to me that you had gone to confront them and my intuition told me that they would confront you here. I was right of course. They never really had much imagination, my commanders." He chuckled to himself. Then he continued his story. "Anyway, after that he left back for your home and I took of here, arriving just in time. Now that Team Rocket has been properly stopped I can go back there again." Giovanni looked past them, noticing Ralph again who was watching him from the distance, looking frightened and angry. A smile came across his face. "Ah." He muttered, stepping towards him. "Whose crobat is this?

"Mine." Joe explained. "His name is Ralph. I wouldn't get too close. He doesn't seem to like you" He added, seeing Ralph back away and bare his teeth.

"Ralph?" Giovanni repeated, looking surprised. The name seemed to mean something to him. Joe raised an eyebrow, a little cautious.

"Yes." Joe repeated. "Why. Does that name mean anything top you?" He asked. Giovanni leaned forwards and looked deep into Ralph's eyes. Ralph stared back, transfixed on the man. Then he stood back up again and turned back to Joe.

"May I see his pokéball?" He asked. Joe's eyebrow rose higher. "I only what to see it." Giovanni added, sounding more reassuring now. Reluctantly Joe did as he asked, pulling out the white pokéball from his bag and showing it to Giovanni. He stared at it wide eyed for a few seconds, his expression of pure surprise. "How did you find him?" He asked. His question wasn't so much a question as it was a demand.

"I came across him being attacked one night." Joe explained. "I saved him and took care of him and he's been with me ever since." Giovanni looked away, seemingly thinking.

"So, old friend, you found him after all." He muttered to himself. He smiled. "And I was worried that you'd get lost." Joe stared at him.

"What?" He asked. Giovanni turned back to him.

"Read the initial on the ball." He said simply. Joe did so.

"It's just the letter G." He said. Giovanni smiled.

"Think about it for a second." He told him. Joe did but nothing seemed to strike him. Then suddenly he realised.

"No. Are you telling me that you're Ralph's…?" Joe began.

"Previous owner?" Giovanni finished. "Yes, that is me. Ralph was an old project of mine. He was created to be given to a trainer strong enough to protect this world. It just so happens that you were the one to find him. And here you are now, with him at your side." Giovanni sighed. "But the rest of that story is for another day. Right now I should be letting you go and on your way. So off you go." Without needing to be told twice all of the remaining trainers around him turned for the stairs. Joe turned to leave, ready to find a bed and fall asleep when suddenly he Giovanni's hand on his shoulder. "Hold on one second." He told him suddenly. "There's one last thing I need to tell you." Joe stopped, stifling a yawn and waving his friends to continue on without him. Ralph too stopped and waited with him as Winter, Rocky and Team Ace headed for the stairs and disappeared inside, followed by Samuel who closed the door behind them. Now only Joe, Giovanni, Ralph and Cheng were left there. Once they were alone Giovanni began to speak again. "Commander, could you come here a second." He asked. Cheng shrugged and walked up and stood beside him.

"What do you want to say?" Joe asked. Giovanni took a deep breath and began.

"Before I share this information I need to be sure. You are Joseph Glende from Pallet Town aren't you?" He asked.

"Yes." Joe answered.

"Good." Giovanni said. "That saves me from embarrassment. It is true that you do not have parents?" He asked again. Again Joe nodded.

"Yes. Look, is this going to be important? I haven't gotten any sleep all day so far." Giovanni gave him a stern look.

"Let me get to what I need to say." He snapped. "Do you know who your parents were?" He asked. Joe shrugged.

"I know that they were members of Team Rocket when it first started out, but I was never told their names." He explained. Giovanni smiled suddenly.

"Well I think that I may have found one of them." Giovanni told him. Then he turned to Cheng.

"What are you talking about?" Cheng asked, unsure why he was there.

"Commander, I thought you would have figured it out" Giovanni explained. "This boy is Walker Glende's Nephew." Chengs eyes widened suddenly. He looked from Joe to Giovanni then back to Joe.

"No." He muttered. "He can't be. He can't be him!"

"Can't be who?" Joe asked, confused. "What's he talking about? Who am I." Giovanni stepped forwards and put his hand on Joe's shoulder.

"Joe, I know that it is hard to understand. You always thought your parents were dead, and know you know that they aren't." He explained. "But you knew they were in Team Rocket. Well one of them still is." He looked back at Cheng. "Cheng is your uncle's brother" He explained. Suddenly Joe's eyes widened, realising what exactly the Ex-Team Rocket leader was saying.

"No!" He exclaimed, not wanting to believe it. "He can't be my… my…"

"He is." Giovanni said simply.

"Is it possible that my uncle had two brothers?" Joe asked. Giovanni shook his head.

"No, I'm afraid I knew him for a long time. He only has one sibling." He nodded sadly. "Your father has come back to you after so long. Commander Cheng is your real father!"

* * *

**And that's it. Sorry that this was very long. I you didn't get some of the reveals I'll rewrite them so you can understand. Also I hope that the twists aren't too obvious or dull or that they don't work. I've been very tired while writing this part and need a bit of a rest. Please stay followed for the next chapters. There's still the Eighth gym and the Elite four to deal with.**


	34. Chapter 34: The Gym of Shadows

**Just a heads up. The rest of this story is now focusing on the gym battles and getting to the Elite Four. Archer and Team Rocket will not be returning but if there is a sequel story (Which is already in planning.) They will be back for that. If you like character development and a bit of Pokemon ****battling then I think you should enjoy the rest of this book. Thank you all for reading and following up to this far in my story. Without my fans I probably could never have motivated myself to write it this far.**

**Thank you all. :)**

* * *

Joe sat down on a small fold away bed, feeling a little depressed. He had just entered the saffron pokémon centre and had taken up camp inside one of the vacant rest rooms for the night. The time was now 10:15AM and only three hours ago he had been battling on top of Silph Co tower against Team Rocket. The event was still confusing him. So much had happened.

He had found out that all this time Team Rocket had been playing him like a die, tricking him into trying to stop one party of rockets so another could achieve the real goal. It had made him feel so stupid that he hadn't seen it coming. Then there was loosing so dramatically to their commander. There hadn't even really been a chance; his Nidoking was overwhelming, almost impossibly powerful. It had hyper beamed down most of his remaining pokémon needing almost no effort, not even stopping to rest up and gain power afterwards. He had been grateful that Giovanni turned up when he did otherwise he wouldn't be around now to think about. But even Giovanni had managed to confuse and surprise him even further. There was only so much information one boy could take in a day and he had way surpassed that limit on this day. The second he gets the chance the well dressed ex-criminal had explained that his assistant, Samuel, had not only been keeping his eye on them throughout their journey but that he was also a gym leader. That had been a surprise in itself. Then dropping the bomb that Ralph used to be one of his own pokémon like it was hardly important, and then proceeding to not give him all the information about it. As far as taking the piss went this was the Full Monty. And then he had thrown out the most important piece of information to him, with no warning about it or anything. He had explained that Commander Cheng, the main rocket commander that Joe had been fighting most of this time, was, in fact, his missing father. Joe didn't know whether to believe him at first but it soon dawned on him that it was, sadly, true. They had the same brown hair, the same blue eyes, the same determination, the same simple need to fight for what they believe in. Yet also it seemed they had the same sense of right and wrong and eventually Cheng had realised that his side was very wrong. But part of Joe didn't want to believe it. It was simply impossible that someone like that could be related to him. His uncle had admitted that his father was in Team Rocket back when Joe had turned up to protect Pallet Town from their attack, but Joe had hoped he was just a grunt with no actual commanding power or that he wasn't even a member anymore. The thought of his father being a psychopathic thieving monster was too much, even for him. And then, just when he felt things couldn't get any crazier, Cheng had run off. He literally just ran straight past Joe and down the stairs, not even looking back, his expression showing the details of a very unique kind of fear. The fear of responsibility. Hardly moral razing if anything positive at all. Clearly he was no more comfortable with the idea of being related to his once fierce enemy then Joe was. After all that he had finally been allowed to leave, as Giovanni got back into his helicopter with his soldiers and flew away as the police began to arrive below.

After the exasperating walk down the twenty five flights of stairs Joe had finally made it, if a little exhausted, to the bottom, only to be rushed by policemen and camera crews with interviewers and long wired fluffy headed microphones desperate to find out what had happened up above. They were shouting questions like 'Excuse me, sir, who are you and why did you fight team rocket?' and 'What do you have to say about Team Rocket' and 'What's Giovanni like in real life' all while the hard flashes of photo cameras blinded the eyes of the surrounding persons being questioned. Joe simply passed them, pulling his hat further down over his face and putting his hands into his pockets, pretending not to see them. He didn't want to be on the news, let alone recognised as a hero. To be honest he didn't see himself as one. What he had done wasn't exactly heroic, just his job. He found Winter and Rocky waiting for him near the doorway with Samuel also waiting beside them, also being harassed by news teams and policemen.

"Joe, over here." Winter had called as he came towards them, looking exhausted and very confused. He quickly walked over to them, pushing past the crowd and joining them, quickly leading them all out of the building and away from the news teams. When they were finally free they stopped, standing open in the cold morning air. For most of the time they had all been quiet, simply thanking each other and themselves that they were still in one piece. It had gotten very chaotic.

"What was it Giovanni wanted with you?" Rocky had asked, not aware that the question may be a sensitive area for him. Joe had looked at the floor, unsure what to tell them. He didn't want them to know that Cheng, of all people, had been his father all along. But he also didn't want to lie to them either. He didn't want to make them feel he was ok when he wasn't. Finally it was Samuel who had come to his rescue.

"I think that whatever it was, it can wait till he's ready to talk about it." He had told them in his calm, respectable, sincere voice. Winter and Rocky had fallen quiet.

"Ok, if that's what you think is best." Winter had accepted. Joe nodded, simply. Samuel smiled and turned to walk away.

"Good luck with your journey." He had told them as he began to walk away. Then he had stopped suddenly. "Oh, by the way. Seeing as how you know I'm a gym leader now. If you want to stop by Viridian gym and challenge me at any point I'd be more than happy to do so. I'm always available. I would strongly recommend that you grab a fighting type, however. My pokémon are quite… unique." And on that note he had turned, released his Golbat and flown away into the early morning sky.

Unthinking, the group had headed for the pokémon centre, exhausted and defeated. They had handed in their pokémon to be healed by the nurses and had taken lodgings in the pokémon centres night rooms. Before going and finding their rooms however Joe had stopped at the PC to call an old friend. The machine bleeped on and came up with a code. Joe typed in the number that Bill had given him and picked up the receiver. On the screen a few white dots flashed for a few seconds, then the screen flashed, turned black and a large, colourful room fizzled into view. A face became visible on the screen. It was cute, blue, finned and very very excited.

"Hi, Nami." Joe cooed upon seeing his old team member. Nami yapped back happily, excited to see her old owners face again, pawing at the screen and trying to stroke his hair. Joe chuckled. "Yeah, I'm happy to see you, too." He smiled widely at her happy expression. Her tail was wagging high behind her, knocking against the foam wall to her left side. "So how are you doing in your new home?" Joe asked. Nami yapped and nodded very vigorously, still very excited. Joe scratched his head. "Good, hey." He laughed. "I see you've got a nice little room to yourself. Bills taking care of you then." Nami nodded, her smile growing as her tail batted a small rubber ball aside. "So I dealt with the whole team rocket thing now." Joe explained to her, rubbing the back of his head. "I still have the space for you on my team. Would you like to come back and join me again?" He asked. Nami's smile suddenly faded. She looked away from the screen, seeming sheepish and a little sad. Joe narrowed his eyebrows, concerned. "Nami, what's wrong?" He asked. Nami didn't answer. Suddenly there was an excited cry from another pokémon off screen and something, about the same size as Nami, jumped up beside her and began pawing at her side. This new pokémon was another Eeveelution, but one that Joe had never seen before. This new Eeveelution had pitch black fur with golden rings on its legs, ears and tail, both of which were pointed and rounded. It stood on four thin black legs and had red yet kind eyes. At first Joe didn't know what this pokémon was but soon realised that it was an Umbreon, because it told him so. The umbreon pounced around, clearly wanting to play with Nami. Nami yapped at it and tapped it with a paw, causing it to spin around and wag its tail wildly, getting overexcited. Nami pushed it aside as she turned back to the screen. Joe was smiling a little again. "You've made a friend, I see." He noted. Nami nodded, happily. Another pokémon suddenly walked up beside her, rubbing its head against her fur. This new pokémon was the exact opposite of the last. This one had pink fur with a two ended tail and a small red jewel on its forehead. It had long sleek legs, long pointed ears and blue iris eyes. Nami nuzzled it back. "Lots of friends." Joe chuckled. Nami yapped. Joe's smile faded a little. "You're happy, then." He muttered. Nami nodded at him, her smile fading also. Joe gave a now fake smile. "You want to stay there?" He asked. Nami looked a little sad now. She could see his sad expression; hear the disappointment in his voice. She knew he was upset and she wanted to make him feel better. The other pokémon, now recognised as an Espeon, looked from the screen to Nami, seeing her sad expression. Joe let out a heavy, exhausted sigh. "Alright then. Have fun in your new home. Talk to you soon. Stay safe, Nami." He reached for the end call button. The last thing he saw on the screen was Nami's concerned expression as it cut back to black and returned to the main screen. Joe put down the receiver.

Now waking back up from thinking over everything that had just happened, Joe found he was stuck on what to think, let alone do. Team Rocket was gone now. Archer had got away but he was powerless. Whether he would return was to be seen but for now they were free of his malicious intentions for the world. As for Wharton no one saw where he went. It was unlikely they would be seeing him again. Joe sighed. Team Rocket had been his main motivator during his entire journey. They had been the ones who made him want to get stronger, want to fight back and stop them and now that he had he didn't have a clue where to go from there. There was always the pokémon league but what was the point of taking them on. He didn't want to be the champion. He didn't want all that power on his shoulders. He never wanted that. He just wanted to have an adventure… and he had. He considered maybe that it was time to head home. Immovably, he sighed again.

"What should we do, Ralph?" He asked. Ralph, who was sitting perched on a small but comfy chair, shrugged in response. He would do whatever Joe wanted to do. He didn't feel a need to push him anymore. Joe lifted off his hat and rubbed his head, rustling his now longer untidy brown hair. It needed a cut again. A month or so travelling would do that to a person. Thank god he wasn't old enough to grow a beard yet or he'd look ridiculous. He sighed again. "Do you want to keep on travelling?" he asked. Ralph didn't answer. He needed to think about it. For him Joe's happiness and safety took priority over his own, so if it made Joe happy he would do it. There was a short silence.

Joe suddenly began to cry. Small teardrops formed from his eyes. He leaned forwards on his bed and quietly wept into his hands. He wasn't just crying of sadness or grief. These were tears of exhaustion. He had been through so much during his travel, so many things had happened to him, so many battles, so many bad events it had all gathered up like a cyst on his spine till finally it burst and broke him inside. Fighting Archer, nearly being killed and finding his Father only for him to run off again had pushed his limits farther than he could ever hope to carry. He sat there, his face in his hands, pouring quiet tears as all his emotions collapsed in on him and left him feeling wrecked. Ralph watched him from his seat, sadness appearing in his eyes. It hurt him so much to see his friend like this. He no longer needed to carry the weight of the world anymore and now that he was free his emotions were going out of control. Everything he had done, everything he had experienced having its effect on him again. Giving up two pokémon, both for different reasons and in different ways, was tough on any normal trainer and most would have quit long ago. Joe couldn't quit. For him it was heart breaking. But he had to be tough, for the sake of his friends and the rest of his team. Ralph sat there, watching the closest friend he had ever had suffering and he knew that he had to help him. Not just now but for the rest of his life. No matter what, he had to be there for him, to help him carry his pain. It was what friends were for. No matter how tough it was for either of them he needed to keep him strong, even if it was at the cost of his own happiness. He owed Joe that much at least. Slowly Ralph pushed himself off his seat and into the air, slowly hovering forwards towards his distraught friend. Joe looked up and saw Ralph standing - Or rather floating - in front of him, his large yellow eyes looking sadly down at him. The two of them looked into each other's eyes, sharing the same feeling and emotions. Suddenly Ralph reached out with his large front wings, wrapped them around Joe's body and embraced him in a hug. The two of them sat there, Boy and Bat, for a few minutes hugging each other tightly. Joe's tears became a full on downpour as he let all of his grief, his stress, his anger, his pain and his sadness out at once. He bawled and hugged Ralph tighter, resting his head next to Ralph's own. Ralph rubbed Joe's back and hugged him tight, doing his best to make him feel well again. Joe hugged him tighter still.

"I'm sorry for dragging all of you in to this." He whispered, his voice breaking as tears choked his voice. Ralph gave a concerned look back at him. "I don't care if you used to be owned by a world famous criminal. You're good to me and that's all I ever wanted. Just promise me you won't do anything that will get you into trouble, ok." Joe pleaded. "Sting died and Nami's found a new home. I couldn't bare it if I lost you, too." Ralph nodded respectfully, finally understanding the amount of pain that Joe had been coping with all this time. He nuzzled the side of his head and smiled. Joe nuzzled him back and the both of them began to laugh for the first time in what seemed forever. And the two companions just sat there, embracing as the closest of friends, till night came around again and dusk fell upon the land.

When the morning came back around Joe awoke, feeling a bit better after his heartfelt talk with his pokémon. After their talk he had simply spent the rest of the day thinking with Ralph and considering their options open to them. They could head home, travel around Kanto again and try to catch a few more pokémon, travel to a new region and try the gym leaders there, or finish the Kanto League by fighting Samuel then taking on the Elite Four. After a long time considering they eventually decided that they had already come so far here within their time together that they should try and finish it before moving on. Joe had decided to take up Samuel's offer of a battle. He got up, get dressed and left his room, heading into the pokémon centres main hall and waiting for the rest of his friends to wake up. Rocky was the first to walk out. He walked in, dressed in his usual clothes and looking well rested, a new, larger, grey, muscular fighting type pokémon followed after him. He walked over to Joe and sat down next to him, the new pokémon also sitting down. Joe looked at it for a few seconds.

"Who's your new friend?" Joe asked. Rocky looked at the new pokémon and then turned back to Joe, a smile on his face, holding back a chuckle.

"You really don't recognise him?" Rocky asked. "I didn't think he had changed that much. Machops don't tend to change too much when they evolve." Joe suddenly realised.

"That's Chopper?" He asked. The machoke that had followed Rocky into the room nodded, excited at his new form himself. Joe gulped. "Blimmy did he get taller!" He joked. Rocky and Chopper laughed. He had in fact grown by quite a bit, stand at least twice the size he had been before, almost as tall as Rocky himself. As well as this his face was flatter and more human looking while his arms were longer and had much more muscle on them. His legs had done exactly the same except now he was wearing a small black set of trunks on his lower area with a golden belt keeping them up. Overall he looked more menacing then before but clearly he was still the same happy, joking, cheerful machop he always had been. Chopper began pumping his fists and Rocky smiled, patting him on the shoulder.

"I think he quite likes his new body, don't you?" He said. Joe nodded in definitive agreement. A few minutes later and Winter walked in, also looking well rested with Staryu following after her. She waived at them and joined them sitting at the waiting seats.

"Hey guys." She called, walking speedily over and sitting down on the opposite side of Joe. Staryu stopped at her feet and stood motionless, resting as it waited for its trainer to move on. She looked great. Her hair was no longer flowing over her shoulders free in the wind but was now partially done up in a long ponytail at the back of her head. The rest of her hair that wasn't in a ponytail was hanging free down her back. Her face looked clean and she had changer her clothes, wearing more autumnal attire, pail cargo pants and a long sleeved green shirt under a slightly think dark green jacket. For some reason the entire set of clothing suited her watery mystique perfectly. She looked like she was ready to go to sea. She smiled at them and Joe noticed her eyes glisten slightly in the internal lighting. He looked away, feeling uncomfortable.

"Morning." Both boys greeted together. She smiled and reached for her back, unzipping it and dipping her hand inside.

"Sleep well?" She asked. Rocky nodded instantly while Joe took a second to consider before answering. She smiled again.

"Good to hear." She suddenly pulled out a pokéball and held it in her hand. "I've got someone to show you." She told them, an excited, cheeky smile on her face. "Do you want to meet her?" She asked. Rocky, Joe, Ralph and Chopper looked blankly at each other. In unison they all shrugged. Winters smile grew wider. He readied the ball and threw it up into the air. With a gentle pop the ball opened and out appeared an entirely new looking pokémon. "Let me introduce the new and improved River!" Winter announced. Joe looked at the new pokémon before him. It looked a bit like her horsea, except for the major fact it was three times bigger, had two huge dorsal fins on its sides and a collection of small spikes at the back of its head. Aside from this it was clearly the same pokémon. It had the same skin colour scales, same long snout, and same curled tail. Gone, however, was the slightly timid and weak motive of the small water seahorse. Now it had a new look of determination and mild seriousness in its eyes. River, the newly evolved seadra, looked up at all of them, giving her sharp, pointing stair to each of them in turn. Thin, with no warning, she fired a small ray of bubbles out from her snout at the humans in front of her. They struck their clothing and popped lightly on their skin, making them jump a little. Winter began to laugh. Staryu watched, unimpressed. If it had had eyes they would have rolled. Finally Winter withdrew the newly evolved River and turned back to her friends. "So what's the plan for today?" She asked. There was silence as Joe thought for a second. It had been a full day since Silph Co and they seemed just as ready as ever to get going and continue their adventure.

"Well I was talking about it with Ralph last night and…" He paused.

"And what?" Rocky asked. Joe gulped and let out a small sigh.

"And, after a long discussion about what was best for the both of us… we want to finish what we started." Joe continued. A smile began to grow on his face. "We want to take on Samuel and then try the Elite Four." His friends smiled at this news.

"Great!" Rocky cheered as Chopper began Patting Joe and Ralph roughly on the back. Winter also cheered for them.

"That's brilliant news!" She told them. "After that whole incident with Archer and Giovanni turning up and saying Ralph is his old pokémon I didn't think you'd be up to travelling again so soon. It's good to see you're staying strong still." She smiled warmly at him. Joe smiled back.

"Thanks." He said, feeling a little overwhelmed.

"Oh, by the way. I hope that I don't seem impertinent or anything…" Winter added suddenly. "But what did Giovanni say to you when we left. He said he wanted to speak with you. What was it about?" Joe's smile suddenly disappeared as the colour drained from his face. He had hoped they wouldn't ask him that question. He didn't want to tell them his father was in fact the man they had been battling all this time. He didn't know how they would react to that news. He had hardly reacted well to it himself.

"He, uh…" He stumbled, trying to think up a good excuse. "He… wanted to tell me a hidden move only Ralph can learn." He lied. Winter raised her eyebrow.

"Really?" She asked, sounding a little suspicious. Joe nodded, going with the lie he had just made.

"Yeah. A rare poison type move where the user swipes an X with two claws or wings. He called it… uh…" He stopped, trying to think up a good name. "Cross Poison!" He continued suddenly. "Yeah, that's it, Cross Poison!" He turned and saw Ralph's confused expression. He didn't remember Giovanni saying anything like that. Subtly Joe winked at him and ordered him to 'Stay quiet'.

"Huh." Rocky thought. "I must admit I've never heard of that move before."

"He said it's a rare move only he can teach and only Crobats can learn it." Joe added, quickly. Winter shrugged.

"Alright then." She stood up suddenly. "Do you want to go now and get Viridian today or do you want to wait in Saffron a bit longer and start heading there tonight." She asked them. Joe didn't take a second to think about it.

"Let's get going now." He told her. "If we fly there now we should still have time to fight him when we arrive." He reasoned. Rocky and Chopper agreed with this decision, nodding their heads almost violently. Winter shrugged.

"Ok." She agreed, turning for the door. "Lads, it's time to let your birds out!" She announced.

Two hours later and the trio were just arriving in Viridian City. It had been so long since Joe and Winter had passed through the city and Rocky hadn't even known them at that point. In fact Joe hardly remembered it. He remembered the event that came across in the pokémon centre but most of the rest was old history now. It had all felt so insignificant in comparison to what they had just done. It was almost a little sad actually. The idea that memories so young and potent could be lost, forgotten in the foggy mists of time. With ease the group landed their pokémon and withdrew them, leaving just Ralph out at Joe's side. They stood in front of the final gym in the region. The Viridian Gym. On the outside it looked now different to any normal gym, with the exception of dark tinted windows which none of them could see through. They stood outside looking in, preparing themselves to take on the challenge that would lie ahead. Joe's friends stood beside him, waiting for him to be ready.

"Ready?" Winter asked. Joe nodded simply.

"I'm ready." He told her. With a simple determined smile he stepped inside.

The battle that Joe had with Samuel, as far as everything he had been through was concerned, was actually quite quick. Joe stepped into the building and headed straight for his battle podium, already seeing that Samuel, the gym leader and apprentice of Giovanni, was already waiting at his. As Joe took up position opposite him Samuel began to speak.

"Welcome to my gym." He called. "The first gym of its kind. A gym solely focused upon the tricky and cunning dark type pokémon." His calm voice echoed around the shadowed hall. The only lighting in it was a small, dark chandelier but even that wasn't very bright as it emitted a shadowy form of light out onto the field. "Sadly there aren't any real dark type pokémon in this region so I can only use pokémon with dark type attributes or moves. When you faced me in Silph Co I used just the one of my pokémon. Now here you stand today in my domain. I must admit I made the right choice. You are very strong, both in talent and in spirit. You bested Team Rocket and stood up to their mad god leader. Kanto does not know how lucky it is to have you protecting it." He smiled now. "But now you face me, the final and probably strongest gym leader in the entire region. You battle me in my part of the world, the existence I inhabit. This is my own reverse world and I am its Giratina." He waved an arm. "But enough showing off. Sorry but it really is a part of the job. You came to challenge me at my gym like I proposed. How good of you. Now I can get to see your real power used against me. I will not hold back on you, not even for a second. My dark type pokémon will test your metal and see if you truly are strong enough to face the elite four. I hope you rested before this." He smiled and pulled out a pokéball. Joe, who had been quiet while Samuel had spoken, smiled to himself. He reached for his own pokéball.

"You're on!" He taunted quietly and threw the pokéball through the air. At the same time Samuel threw his.

"Go, Persian!" Samuel shouted.

"Come on out, Sirena!" Joe shouted. Both pokéballs landed and both pokéballs opened, releasing their carried pokémon. Sirena sat in a small pool of self created water glairing with her small, ancient eyes down at the majestic white cat prowling around in front of her. Then Samuel began shouting commands at his pokémon.

"Persian, Slash!" He commanded. Persian suddenly ran forwards, a sharp swiping claw raised.

"Sirena, Ice Beam!" Joe called. Sirena welled up the freezing cold air in her mouth and fired it at the charging classy cat. The ice struck it in the shoulder and formed a heavy thorn encasing its entire left leg. It continued running, however, even with the ice slowing it down. It finally reached its target and lashed out, scratching Sirena on the side of her shell. Sirena winced but took the attack well, taking almost no damage from it at all.

"Bite!" Samuel commanded. Persian jumped onto Sirena's shell and bit down. It suddenly jumped back, spitting in pain. The attack had cracked its teeth, doing more damage to it then to Sirena. Sirena simply laughed at it and shot it with a hydro pump, knocking it out instantly. Samuel rubbed his head and withdrew his first pokémon. "Ok, so you beat my Persian. Well done. But he was the weakest of my team." He warned. He reached for another pokéball. He unclipped one and held it firm in his hand. "Let's present a challenge. Come on out, Haunter!" He called. His pokéball sailed through the air, opened and released the ghostly, armless yet handy gas made creature. Haunter cackled to itself (As they liked to do) and clenched its claws, readying to attack. "Haunter, use shadow ball!" Samuel commanded. A small, ghostly ball of energy formed in Haunters hands. It fired and the ball flew out, hitting Sirena in the chest. Somehow it did very little as she flinched but stayed standing, returning an annoyed glare at the ghost pokémon before her.

"Sirena, use body slam!" Joe instructed. Too late did he realise the mistake in his command. Sirena swam forwards, rose up her head and lunged at Haunter with the full force of her body, only to find that she passed straight through it. She slid through it, looking back surprised to see Haunters laughing face as it stuck its tongue out at her. She skidded to a stop and saw shadows reaching out from its body, heading towards her. The shadows grew out suddenly and struck her, causing a surprising amount of damage. The scoreboard on the wall said she had lost 47 health points.

"That's one of the great things about a move like night shade." Samuel explained. "It does the same amount of damage as the user's level." He then threw out a pointing arm. "Haunter, use hypnosis!" He instructed. Haunter's eyes suddenly glowed pink as it glared at Sirena, trying to catch her gaze.

"Sirena, close your eyes! Don't look at it!" Joe called, quickly. Sirena did so, just as Haunter's eyes came into view and their stairs almost met. Haunters attack quickly faded and it punched at the floor, angry that Sirena had been quick enough to dodge its attack. "Great, now use Ice beam and freeze its arms!" Joe called. A thin beam of ice fired from Sirena's mouth and struck Haunter, freezing not only its hands but its entire body, leaving only the top of its head visible. It struggled and squirmed but could not get free from the grip of the ice. Joe smiled to himself. "Now finish it off with surf!" He instructed. Sirena began to build up the water underneath her till it flooded the battlefield and lifted her into the air, way above her opponent. Haunter could do nothing except watch helpless as its opponent rose up and readied to wipe it away.

"Curse!" Samuel bellowed suddenly. Haunter began to cackle again, quietly but still audible. Its body glowed eerie blue and its hands clenched. Its eyes glowed black for a second and then the light faded as Sirena's attack fell and washed it away. When the water disappeared Haunter lay unfrozen and unconscious on its side of the battle field. Samuel did not moan or curse in disappointment. He continued to smile and withdrew his second pokémon. His smile never faded from his face. "Very good." He chuckled slightly. "You defeated yet another of my pokémon. I must admit I was hoping Haunter could take down at least one of your pokémon, but no matter. It's all part of the game." He shrugged and reached for his third pokéball, gripping it in his hand and throwing it out. When it opened it released a pokémon that no one, not even Joe had expected to see. Standing on Samuels side of the field, wearing a small power bracelet and shrouded in shadow, was a large Nidoqueen. The nidorina evolution glared angrily at Sirena, unhappy that this new (Using the words Nidoqueen herself used: Bitch) was standing in her home. She was going to crush this opponent easily. "Queeny, use Thunder punch!" He commanded. Nidoqueen, or Queeny as Samuel had called her, charged forwards with one large arm pulled back, sparking yellow with random static.

"Hold her back with psychic!" Joe called. Sirena released a large sphere of psychic energy out which hit Queeny in the chest and knocked her back, dowsing her attack in the process. Sirena cawed happily and Joe punched the air. "Good job!" He called. Suddenly Sirena flinched as something ghostly and sinister struck her in the back. Whatever it was, was translucent, small and shaped like a shovel. Samuel smiled. Haunters Curse was beginning to take effect. Sirena began to wobble as her strength failed her. She was just about able to fight but she probably couldn't take another hit. "Sirena, are you okay?" Joe called. Sirena nodded, slowly and painfully. She was just about holding on. Joe sighed with relief. "Ok, use ice beam." He instructed. Sirena gathered cold air in her mouth and released a thin beam of freezing cold ice at the now charging again Nidoqueen. Queeny however simply smashed the ice as it flew towards her with single fist, roaring angrily.

"Superpower!" Samuel commanded. Nidoqueen rushed forwards, both fists raised and primed, her entire body glowing bright brown and pumped up high with serious energy. Sirena backed up a little and tried ice beam again but this time the attack simply bounced of Nidoqueen's hide as it rushed forwards.

"Look out!" Joe cried. Too late. Nidoqueen rushed into Sirena, striking her with not only her fists but also her entire body. There was a quickly scuffle and finally Queeny stepped out, still conscious. As the dust faded Sirena became visible again. She was unconscious; her long neck limped back against her shell. Joe sighed sadly and withdrew his pokémon. Considering the test that Haunter and Persian had put up he was surprised that she had made it this far already. He thanked her and clipped her great ball back to his belt. He then turned to Ralph. "Looks like you're up." He told him. Ralph nodded and took up his position on the field. Nidoqueen glared at him now. Another intruder in her sacred home. She would deal with him too. She stomped her feet angrily and punched her arms together. Samuel raised an arm.

"Be quiet, Queeny!" He snapped. Nidoqueen stopped, falling still and calm but still glaring at the purple bat opposing her. "You're using Crobat then." Samuel thought openly. "I remember you using him. I've never seen such power before. This should be interesting." Joe smiled at him.

"His name is Ralph!" He told him, slowly, speaking in a slightly annoyed, slightly volatile voice. He then clenched his fist "Ralph, use Wing Attack!" Joe called. Ralph nodded and sped forwards at intense speed, slashing his wing across Nidoqueens body and flying on past. Nidoqueen flinched but withstood the attack.

"Fire punch!" Samuel shouted. Nidoqueen ran forwards and tried punching with a burning fist at Ralph but he was too fast for her, dodging aside before she could even try and hit him.

"Screech!" Joe shouted. Ralph released an ear splitting cry which caused Nidoqueen to drop her defences and cover her ears. "Now, Poison Fang!" Joe instructed. Ralph shot forwards, jaw open and two glistening white fangs visible. He bit down on her arm and sunk his fangs deep into her tough skin. Then he let go again, spitting in disgust. Nidoqueen simply laughed at him and swatted him away, hitting him with a fire punch. Samuel laughed.

"Doesn't work to well on other poison types, does it." He smirked, jovially. Ralph glared annoyed at him and dodged out of the way of a thunder punch, returning it with a wing attack. Joe though for a second.

"Ok, use Air Cutter!" He called. Ralph pulled back his wings and released them, firing a heavy gust of cutting air. The attack hit Nidoqueen and she flinched. Then she charged in again and successfully struck him with a thunder punch. Ralph spun back through the air but quickly recovered, looking dazed but still conscious. "Ralph, are you ok?" Joe called. Ralph nodded, glancing back and smiling cheekily. Joe smiled too. "Alright, use fly!" He commanded. Ralph shot up into the air and flew over Nidoqueens head. She glared up at him angrily, waiting for him to come back down. When Ralph did she was ready for him.

"Superpower!" Samuel instructed. Nidoqueen began to build up power in her body, brown aura glowing around her as her attack readied. Ralph came soaring down from above, a purple bullet, wings folded in and diving towards his target. Both pokémon where tired and wasn't likely that either of them would be able to withstand another powerful attack. Then they collided. Nidoqueen released her attack, throwing her body at Ralph as he sped above the ground, head pulled in and aimed to ram into her chest. Both attacks hit with perfect succession. Ralph was sent spiralling backwards, somersaulting over and over in the air as Nidoqueens punch shook him at full force. Nidoqueen wan knocked back and over by the sheer force that Ralph had mustered with his attack. Simultaneously both pokémon hit the floor, lying there eyes closed for a few seconds. Both trainers waited for one of them to stand and claim victory. Then, finally, after what seemed like ages, Ralph began pushing himself back up onto his small feet. He stood there, battered and exhausted but still conscious. Nidoqueen lay a few feet away, not moving and not conscious. Ralph sighed with relief at his success and slowly, painfully took off into the air again and flew back to Joe's side.

"Well done, buddy." Joe said, ruffling Ralph between the ears as he arrived back at his side. Ralph smiled wide, shivering as Joe scratched the back of his head. Then, exhausted, he landed on the ground at Joe's feet, allowing himself a rest after the fight he had given out. Samuel seemed a little surprised.

"Well, I must admit I was not expecting crobat… I mean Ralph… to take down Queeny so easily." He muttered, surprise a painting plastered on his face. Then he shrugged. "You really are full f surprises, my friend. No wonder Team Rocket saw you as a threat. Joe nodded slightly.

"People seem to keep telling me that." He joked. Samuel laughed.

"But enough playing around. Three of my team are down. Two of your team are down. I still have two pokémon left." He reached for his forth pokéball. "Let's see how you fare against her." He announced and released the ball. When it opened a large, rough looking muscular pokémon with dark skin and pail stomach with a pouch on its belly and a small creature looking out from it. Its long fat tail thrashed around behind it as it spun around to face Joe, its sharp ears cutting the air and its keen eyes drilling through its enemy. Joe recoiled in surprised.

"What is that?" He exclaimed. Samuel folded his arms.

"That is Kangaskhan." He explained simply. "And she is not keen on people insulting her looks. Joe coughed.

"Sorry." He muttered apologetically. This was the second time he had offended the looks of a gym leader's pokémon. He considered that it was probably best to keep those thought to himself, rather them saying them aloud. He then reached for his third, and hopefully final, pokéball and readied it in his hand. He released it out and when it opened out jumped the courageous, agile hitmonlee, Carter. Immediately battle began.

"Kangaskhan, use comet punch!" Samuel cried. Kangaskhan rushed forwards, throwing out several quick punches. Carter however dodged aside, narrowly missing the attack and kicking Kangaskhan in the side with a double kick. "Comet punch again!" Samuel commanded. This time Kangaskhan got lucky. As Carter jumped over it in an attempt to land a jump kick it struck out, striking him four times in the chest before he blocked the rest of the attack and swept out her legs from under her.

"Hi jump kick!" Joe commanded. Carter stepped a few feet back before running back up and jumping high into the air, kicking Kangaskhan in the side of the head as she pushed herself back up. Kangaskhan fell aside, rubbing her cheek in pain. Carter landed a few feet away, watching patiently, allowing his opponent a fare chance to fight back. Kangaskhan suddenly glared at him, eyes burning red with anger and ferocity. She stood up and roared, throwing her arms back and poking her stomach out.

"Double-edge!" Samuel roared. Kangaskhan suddenly rushed forwards at full strength, ripping up the ground behind her and moving surprisingly fast. She crashed into Carter, who was completely unprepared for the amount of damage she would cause, knocking him of his feet and sending him flying far back. He skidded to a painful halt along the floor, hurt but still standing. Kangaskhan also seemed to take a little damage from its own attack but it too was still strong enough to fight. "Rock Tomb!" Samuel commanded. Kangaskhan ripped a cluster of large rocks out of the ground and threw them at Carter. Carter struck each of them with his kicks and the rocks shattered into dust. When he looked back at Kangaskhan she was charging at him again, this time readying a glowing mega punch. Carter rolled aside again, dodging Kangaskhans Mega Punch only to be hit in the face by a cluster of rocks.

"Take it out with Mega Kick!" Joe cried. 'Take it out' was exactly what Carter then did. He leaned back, bending his legs and placing his hand behind him on the floor. Then, suddenly he jumped high into the air, long glowing leg extended out to strike. Kangaskhan saw him only seconds to late. She raised her hands up in futile defence but she didn't stand a chance. Carters attack hit, his long, powerful leg hitting Kangaskhan in the head and knocking her out cold instantly. Her unconscious body teetered and fell backwards, causing the ground to shake when she hit it with a heavy thud. Samuel was looking worried now. He only had the one pokémon left… And secretly he knew it wouldn't be able to beat his opponent. Joe smiled and Hi fived Carter as he walked back over to his side of the field. Samuel quickly withdrew his fainted pokémon and put his forth pokéball back into its place. With a sad sigh he raised his hands.

"Looks like it's over for me." He admitted. "Down to one pokémon left. Might as well get it over with." He reached for his final pokéball and released his last pokémon, surprisingly enough the only actual dark type on his team. Out of the pokéball jumped a calm looking, black furred umbreon. Joe raised an eyebrow.

"I thought you said you didn't have any dark type pokémon?" He reminded him.

"I said there are no dark types in Kanto." Samuel corrected him. "Umbreon is a Johto pokémon. I don't usual use him. He's just here to end the battle." He explained. And with that he raised an open palm, gesturing that Joe make a move. Joe looked at Carter and Ralph and shrugged.

"Carter, brick break!" Joe told him. Carter walked calmly over to the unmoving, open Umbreon as it watched simply, not attempting to fight back. Carter simply punched it in the side and that was it. The battle was over. Umbreon collapsed to the ground, unconscious. Samuel withdrew him and gave a slightly sad sigh. Then he looked up again and smiled at his opponent.

"Congratulations." He told him. "You've just beaten me. You've just earned yourself access to the Pokémon League. Joe stared at him wide eyed.

"Are you serious?" He asked, stunned. Samuel nodded, his smile honest and kind. Joe punched the air with joy at this news. He had done it. He had gathered all the gym badges in the Kanto region and now he was going to take on the Elite Four. Carter returned to his side and joined in the celebrations. Ralph also found his strength returning as he flew back up into the air and began spinning wildly with joy. Rocky and Winter were clapping from the podiums, cheering for their friend and his latest success. Samuel walked over from his podium, also clapping but more calmly.

"Well done." He told Joe. "I knew you would win. I didn't exactly let you do so on purpose but you still had the ability to take the victory for yourself. I congratulate you. You really are one of the best trainers Kanto has seen in a long time. I'm being serious." Joe shrugged, blushing a little with the complements.

"Well, I wouldn't say I'm that good." He admitted. "I still need to take on the elite four and the champion. I doubt I'm that strong yet." Samuel raised a confident eyebrow.

"Really? Well I think you won't have too much trouble. As of current there is no Champion. He left a little while ago. No one else has been strong enough yet to take his place. Not even the Elite Four themselves can decide who should take his place." He shrugged. "Maybe you're the one who could make it." Joe looked excitedly at Ralph. Before they hadn't considered at all making it far enough to ever be the champion. Now that they had defeated all the gym leaders the idea became a possibility. Maybe they could do it. Maybe they could become the strongest trainer and team in Kanto. It was a long shot but still a possibility.

"Really?" Joe asked, almost jumping with excitement. Samuel nodded.

"Certainly. I'm sure you two could definitely make it. I know I'll certainly be cheering for you." He smiled. Joe and Ralph whooped with delight. They were going to do it! They were going to fight the Elite four and become the newest Kanto champions. First however they needed to rest up and prepare. Victory road was a long and treacherous path… and besides, they had left all their stuff at the pokémon centre and his team needed a rest again.


	35. Chapter 35: A Long Road Behind

**Yeah, this chapter isn't perfect. Its mainly filler. Just enjoy it and if I really feel the need I'll come back at some point and rewrite bits of it better. Still, its the last free chapter before the Elite Four so, enjoy this freedom while it lasts.**

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The following morning Joe got dressed and prepared for the long journey that was laid out ahead of him, a big smile beaming on his face. After having just obtained the eighth gym badge in Kanto and getting the first good night's rest he'd had in weeks, he felt determined, like he could take on the world. Before he had never felt he would ever be strong enough to take on the league. It just wasn't the kind of trial he was truly up for. But now that he actually did have the choice to challenge them he began to feel that there was still the possibility of succeeding. With careful training and strategy he could be successful. He'd awoken Ralph a little earlier then usual and together, before Rocky and Winter could awake, they had gone to visit the Poke Mart. There they stocked up on Hyper Potions to keep the team healthy, Revives to keep the team standing, Pokéballs in case Joe decided that he wanted to catch another team member, and berries of different kind in case they were needed or anyone got hungry. Victory Road was a long and difficult path. Most of it were inside the caves and required pokémon strong enough to move boulders. Luckily Joe had one such pokémon which could do so and his name was Carter. After buying everything he felt he'd need he headed back to the pokémon centre and waited till Winter and Rocky awoke. When they did they made sure they were ready and set off for Victory Road.

"So why the sudden change of mind?" Winter asked as they headed up route 22, a small winding path leading to the west of Viridian City. Joe remembered seeing it when he first arrived in the town back when he'd just met Ralph. He hadn't tried to travel up it partly because it led away from where he wanted to go and partly because of all the much stronger wild pokémon hanging around in the grass. Joe sighed. It all felt like a memory now. Even Team Rocket felt like that. Just a bad dream. Suddenly he realised that Winter had spoken to him.

"Huh?" He asked, absentmindedly.

"I asked why you're suddenly so excited about taking on the League." She repeated. Joe lifted his head a little.

"Oh, Well…" He considered a good explanation. "I guess I just feel now like I stand a chance. After beating Samuel and having only two pokémon faint I feel I have an ok chance at taking them on, too. I guess we'll see once we make it there." Winter looked at his beaming expression. She wasn't really used to him smiling so much. It looked odd.

"Might be a good idea to train up before actually trying to take them on." Rocky added. "They can be quite tough, even the first of the four is known to be strong. It may take more than one attempt to get to the last one." Joe nodded.

"You may be right." He agreed. "But I'm still going to try. I can train with Ralph and the others whiles we're getting there. I think I'll probably give them an extra day before actually entering, but anyway, I'm sure we could all deal with whatever's to come next." A sudden voice took them by surprise.

"Well, well, we meet again, old friend!" They announced. "You don't look any different at all… except maybe for the clothing." Slowly the trio turned around, their expressions of surprise changing to expressions of mild happiness when they saw who it was talking.

"Thomas!" Joe exclaimed in delight. Sure enough his old friend and rival from pallet town, Thomas Icarus, was patrolling slowly towards them, a smile also on his face. "Where on earth have you been?"

"Something came up." Tom explained as he got closer. "I had a small job to do over in Vermillion City. Professor Oak asked me to help out with the moving of a family of Spearow from a radio tower." They looked at him.

"How is that more important than helping us fight Team Rocket?" Winter demanded, but not unkindly. Tom tilted his head a little.

"Well when that specific radio tower is the kind that communicates with airplanes, sending messages to the pilots, it is a little important too. Imagine what would happen if one didn't get communication as to where to land and missed the runway by forty feet." He explained. After a few seconds of thinking the group shrugged in a synchronised fashion.

"Well, when you put it like that." Winter agreed.

"It still would have been nice for you to be there to help." Joe continued. Tom bowed his head slightly.

"Yeah, I am sorry I couldn't be there to help. At least it went well though, right?" Joe was silent. He didn't really want to look back at it anymore. Technically they hadn't won, but then again neither had Team Rocket. Giovanni had won. Giovanni had stopped the fighting. But he didn't really want to tell Tom that. He still wanted to be seen as a strong character.

"Yeah." He agreed finally. "We won." Tom suddenly smiled, an almost mad expression appearing on his face.

"You know since last we met I've gotten much much stronger. I took on the gym leader over in Viridian only a few minutes ago. He was no match for my team. I assume you battled him too, otherwise you wouldn't be heading this way." He shuffled his arms excitedly. "Since we're both planning on fighting the Elite Four would you care to consider taking on the challenge of a pokémon battle?" He asked. Joe's smile returned to his face. With a slow nod he grinned at his rival.

"How could I refuse?" Pretty soon he found that refusing simply required the use of the word 'No.' Joe's team was flatten, rolled up and kicked aside by Tom's pokémon. He had no idea how he had gotten so powerful since they last met but he had. The battle started with Joe sending out Carter and Tom sending out his Snorlax. Joe had to admit he was surprised when he first saw it, back when they last met on Three Island. The huge fat bear hardly moved, in fact it hardly seemed to breathe. When it did the ground shook.

"Carter, use Jump Kick!" Joe instructed. Carter sailed through the air, one foot readied. Instead of hitting Snorlax, however, he flew past it and hit the ground a few feet further away, digging into the earth like a javelin. Snorlax had rolled over as he attacked, dodging being struck in the side and landing on its stomach. Carter dragged himself out of the ground, his leg aching with the recoil and his eyes glared at the gigantic teddy bear. Without command or warning he rushed in again and began kicking over and over from side on into the opponent's body. Snorlax simply yawned, stretched and began to role onto its side. Carter had no time to react. Even if he could all he would have been able to do was step back three inches. The huge blue and white fat bear rolled onto its side and toppled over, landing belly first on top of Carter and crushing him. When it rolled back over Carter was left pressed into the ground like a cutter into dough, completely unable to move. Joe stood open mouthed at the scene.

"Well, looks like Snorlax completely crushed your Hitmonlee." Tom announced as Snorlax rolled back to its side of the field and fell asleep again. Joe closed his mouth. Silently he withdrew Carter and readied another pokémon. This time he sent out Pippy. The small yellow pikachu jumped out of its pokéball, took one look at the massive mound of fat and raised an eyebrow.

"Alright, you can take him out, Pippy!" Joe encouraged. Tom smirked.

"I don't think he'll get a chance." Tom told him smugly. Then, with little reasoning, he withdrew his Snorlax. The huge sleeping mountain suddenly disappeared inside a ball only one thirtieth its size and at least one two hundredth its weight. Tom then reached for another pokéball and released a second pokémon. Onto the battlefield glided his Fearow, its talons clenched and its beak pointed. It looked down at the small mouse with vicious sharp eyes. Pippy looked up at it, un-intimidated.

"Why did you withdraw Snorlax?" Joe asked. Tom shrugged.

"He's had his battle. Now it's time to give the rest of my team some time." He explained and raised an attacking hand. "Fearow, Aerial Ace!" He commanded. Fearow sped forwards, almost invisible and slashed Pippy in the chest with a wing. Pippy fell back and rolled head first onto his feet, but he continued to stand his ground.

"Thunderbolt!" Joe called. Pippy charged static inside his body and fired, sending a bolt of lightning out from his cheeks and flying out at the gliding bird pokémon. The electric attack hit Fearow in the side but it held on, still flying forwards and already preparing to make a second attack.

"Drill Peck!" Tom called. Fearow began to spin in the air as it sped forwards, beak out.

"Substitute!" Joe instructed, quickly. Pippy formed a dud pokémon and placed it in front of him. Fearow struck the fake Pikachu and it dissolved. Its attack however kept going, drilling into the small Pikachu's back. Pippy sparked and flashed, trying to blind his opponent but Fearow was already on top of him. It grabbed him in one claw and flung him into the air. Pippy sailed backwards and struck with a light but painful thud into the ground, trailing up dust as he landed. He lay there for a few seconds before Joe decided he was defeated and withdrew him. Next he sent out his newest pokémon, Sirena the Lapras.

"Ok, Sirena, use Ice beam!" Joe instructed. Sirena fired a thin beam of ice from her mouth which Fearow narrowly avoided. Then Tom inexplicably withdrew it from battle. Joe raised his eyebrow again. Why was he constantly swapping his pokémon out? Tom smiled, knowingly and sent out his third pokémon. Joe must admit this next one was a big surprise to see. As it appeared its fiery form burned the grass under it, scorching the dry pathway and igniting small areas of forest with its pure existence. The new Magmar raised its snouted head and billowed out a small plume of fire. Joe was still a little surprised.

"Where on earth did you get that?" Joe asked, rather surprised. Tom tapped his nose, cunningly.

"One island." He said simply. I was training there a day ago or so. I ran into it and decided to catch it. I needed a fire type after all. Anyway what I want to know is where you got that Lapras from. I thought they were supposed to be super rare."

"I was given her as a gift." Joe explained. "I traded Nami for her. She's living with Bill now and I think she's happy there." Tom shrugged.

"Fare enough. He seemed like the kind of man to have a rare pokémon like that." Then he tensed up again. "Anyway, back to business. Magmar, Flamethrower!" Magmars mouth expanded as sweltering flame built up inside and it released it in a smouldering blaze which battered Sirena's shell. She flinched up a little as she withdrew herself into her shell but held on.

"Hydro Pump!" Joe instructed. Sirena welled up pure clean water into her mouth and focused it into a torrent.

"Sunny Day!" Tom shouted suddenly. Magmar quickly fired a small ball of fire into the air where it hovered over the battle field. The entire area suddenly became much hotter and a lot brighter. Sirena fired, sending a blast of cold water out which dowsed Magmar but surprising it was ok afterwards. Quickly the water wave boiled and evaporated into nothing but steam as the immense heat weakened Sirena and her water attacks. Magmar flicked a drop of water off its face which evaporated into nothing. "Nice going." Tom continued. "Now, use fire blast!" Magmar fired a large burning five pointed star of flame out from its body and send it spiralling out towards the ancient sea pokémon before it. Sirena took the attack, expecting to withstand it. When it hit, however, the fire consumed her, sapping away her health in seconds and doing serious burn damage. She winced and collapsed in an exhausted pile on her side of the field. Magmar folded its arms and smirked smugly. Tom cheered and raised a first into the air. "Brilliant, Magmar!" He cried. Magmar shrugged as if to say 'Meh, it was nothing.' Joe just sighed and withdrew his pokémon.

"Alright so you're a lot stronger since last time." He admitted. "But don't think I'm giving up." He pulled out a new pokéball. He raised it up and released it, sending out his fourth pokémon. When it opened his huge charizard, cinders burst forth, fire blazing around him. He spread his wings and set off into the air, circling around the battle field. Again Tom withdrew his pokémon.

"Magmar, come back!" He called and pulled out the pokéball, pulling his newest pokémon back in. Then he unclipped another pokéball. Raising it into the air he threw it, crying "GO, Blastoise!" When the ball opened a large, blue tortoise shaped pokémon appeared, standing on two big flat feet with two heavy cannons poking out from its shell and resting on its shoulders. Blastoise stomped defensively and glared up at the circling charizard, focusing his hydro cannons on him and preparing to fire. Above the bright fire faded as sunny day wore off.

"Cinders, Dragon rage!" Joe called. Cinders dived down, breathing purple dragon flames onto Blastoise's tough shell.

"Blastoise, hydro cannon!" Tom instructed. Blastoise's cannons sloshed as they rose up and aimed at the now flying away charizard. Water began to build up deep inside them and suddenly two huge jets of rapid water shot out of each and struck Cinders in the stomach and wings. Cinders howled in surprise and suddenly found himself falling out of the sky. He clawed at the air and tried to regain altitude but could not. His wings crumpled and folded in uselessly at his side. Just before he hit the ground he finally unfolded them and soared over the floor, narrowly avoiding crashing. He sped forwards and made a u-turn, heading back towards his opponent, fire lashing from his mouth as he built up his attack.

"Flamethrower!" Joe instructed. Cinders flew back over Blastoise and breathed boiling hot white flame all over its back. Blastoise shrunk back inside its shell, recovering from the damage it had taken. Cinders took this as a chance to land an attack. Gracelessly he landed again and began to charge forwards, a sharp claw readied to slash Blastoise. As he was about to attack, however, Blastoise suddenly reappeared from its shell, smacking its rock hard skull into Cinders chest and taking him by surprise. The attack was so powerful that it not only knocked Cinders over, it also sent him flying twenty feet across the battlefield. He skidded across the ground, digging up the turf as he did so. When he finally stopped he laid there, a large red unconscious dragon form. Tom cheered and whooped with joy.

"Good job, buddy!" He called. Blastoise bowed, respectfully. Joe punched his side. How was Tom beating him so badly? He withdrew Cinder and reached for another pokéball only to see that again Tom had withdrawn his pokémon. Only two of his team were left; Ralph and Pitt, and only two of toms team were left; Weepinbell and Kadabra, if they were still Weepinbell and Kadabra. Judging by the fact the rest of toms pokémon had evolved it was likely they had too. He didn't know which of the two he was likely to send out. There was nothing for it, he'd just have to make an intuitive guess and send out one anyway. He reached for his fifth pokéball. Tom also reached for his next pokéball. Together they released.

"Go, Pitt!" Joe called.

"Go, Victreebel!" Tom called. Both pokéballs opened and the two grass type pokémon popped out. Joe was a little surprised to see a victreebel again. The last time he had seen one was when he had battled Erika. It had managed to take out his pokémon with ease. Joe hoped that it wouldn't be as powerful this time around. Tom raised a finger. "Victreebel, stockpile!" He commanded. Victreebel expanded slightly as it stockpiled up power inside of it.

"Alright, Pitt. Use growth." Joe decided. Pitt's body began to grow in size slightly. His power grew inside of him a little and he felt a lot stronger for it. Then the attacks started to come.

"Victreebel, Spit Up!" Tom called. Victreebel fired a huge pile of gooey liquid from its mouth which struck Pitt in the face and knocked him back. At the same time however it released all the built up power it had taken in.

"Pitt, use razor leaf!" Joe commanded. Pitt's now larger body rustled about and sent a flurry of cutting crescent leaves out of his flower head. The leaves slashed at the large bell shaped plant, cutting at it but causing mild damage. Tom followed up with the ultimate command.

"Solarbeam!" He shouted. Light gathered in Victreebel's mouth and it lowered its body, focusing the attack on Pitt.

"Solarbeam!" Joe commanded a second later. Pitt also gathered light inside his mouth, aiming it at Victreebel also. Both pokémon readied their power and fired simultaneously. The beams of light struck each other and pushed back against one another. For several seconds they were stuck at an impasse. Then Pitt began to weaken as his power waned away. His Solarbeam dwindled away and Victreebel's attack began to push him back. Suddenly, Pitts Solarbeam disappeared completely, allowing Victreebel's attack to land. The light struck Pitt in the side and nearly engulfed him fully. When it faded he stood weak and barely conscious. Then, finally, his knees buckled, his eyes shut and he collapsed to the ground. Joe sighed and rubbed his head. This wasn't going well at all. Only one pokémon was left on his team. There was nothing for it now. Quickly he withdrew Pitt from the field and put his pokéball back to his pocket. He was about to turn to tell Ralph he was needed only to find his friend was already taking up position on the battlefield. His face was determined and stern, ready to do what was needed to win. He wasn't ready to give up without a fight, even if it was their friend he was battling. Tom smiled to himself.

"Down to your starter pokémon." He muttered aloud. Joe shrugged.

"Ralph can still win." He told him. Tom shook his head, sadly.

"No, you can't." He said and clenched a fist to his chest. "Victreebel, swallow!" He called. Victreebel pulled on the last of his stored power and absorbed it into its body, regaining its health. It lashed its whips menacingly, trying to intimidate Ralph but he was not impressed.

"Ralph, Wing attack!" Joe instructed. Ralph shot forwards, wings outstretched.

"Vine whip!" Tom called. Victreebel's whips shot out, nearly striking Ralph multiple times but he was quick enough to avoid them. With the grace of a floating sheet of paper he arrived before his opponent and struck him in the side. Victreebel grumbled but stayed standing. It glared up at the spiralling purple bat as he shot up into the air and came diving back down, striking Victreebel again, this time in the stomach (Or whatever it is that plants use to digest food that's in that area.) Victreebel spun around in spiral and fell forwards onto its face. Tom withdrew it quickly before Ralph could do anymore damage. Tom was smiling wildly.

"Cool, you finally took out one of my pokémon. Took you long enough." He laughed. Then he reached for his final pokéball. "But that's all you'll be doing from now on." Then he released his pokéball. What happened next was a blur of psychic energy. The world exploded with psychic power. Ralph was knocked out of the air in seconds as a powerful psychic beam struck him in the chest. Joe's brain was tugged and strained as he tried to focus on what was happening. When vision finally returned to normal for him he saw his strongest pokémon defeated on the ground by his feet and a tall, proud looking alakazam glairing mockingly in his direction. Small, scornful words spoke in his mind. They said _'Look who's winning now!'_ Tom walked up, patted his psychic pokémon on the shoulder and smiled, disarmingly at Joe. "Sorry. I told you that you couldn't win." He apologised, though he sounded a little mocking as he did so. "It's just that after he evolved Alakazam hasn't spared a single pokémon which stood in its path. Ralph just didn't stand a chance." Ralph groaned in pain on the floor. His mind had shut off from Alakazam's attack and he was lying exhausted at his trainer's feet. Joe didn't know how to react at all. He just stared astonished and mind blown as Tom shook his hand and took his winnings.

"Wha…" He managed, his mouth still hanging open. Finally he closed it. He looked down and realised that he was shaking Tom's hand. "What… Happened?" He finally managed to ask.

"I won." Tom told him simply, looking quite happy about it. "I defeated you, fare and square. Took me a while to do so, didn't it." He saw Joe's bewildered expression. "Uh, sorry that I kind of destroyed your entire team." He tried to apologise but it didn't sound as kindly as he had meant. Joe blinked.

"You just… Wiped them all out."

"Yeah. Sorry. You'll probably have to take them back to the pokémon centre now." Tom said. Winter suddenly butted in. She and Rocky had been watching the battle keenly and when Joe had lost they had been as equally surprised.

"Wait up." She announced, surprising the two trainers. She reached for one of her pokéballs. "I have someone who can do that for you." She explained and released Lucky the chansey from her pokéball. Upon appearing she immediately began rushing around and helping up the defeated pokémon. First she started with Ralph, helping him wake up and get back onto his legs before taking her small egg and cracking it over his head. The pail, pure, gooey cream substance ran down his face and back. He looked a little suspicious for a few seconds… then he unfurled his wings and suddenly shot back up into the air. He soared high up into the sky, did a huge loop above the clouds and came sailing back down like a large purple paper aeroplane made of thin skin. He landed back besides Lucky and patted her on the head with one long wing, gratefully. Lucky smiled at him and then hurried of towards Joe. She held out her hands, patiently.

"Oh." Joe realised suddenly. He reached for his pokéball belt and slid it of quickly, handing the six pokéballs to the small egg shaped pokémon. Lucky began healing them up too, taking five eggs from her pouch and cracking the shell over the ball so that the healing liquid went inside the capsule at the front. Then, when she was done, she handed Joe back his belt. He took it appreciatively and slid it back around his waist. "Thank you." He told her. Lucky bowed respectfully and waddled over to heal Tom's pokémon.

"It's so useful having a nurse on your team." Winter told them. They all nodded in agreement.

"Certainly a necessity for this route." Joe agreed. "I imagine there's going to be quite a lot of challenges lying ahead for us, aren't there. I just hope we're up for it."

"We'll get through." Tom told him, taking back his belt from Lucky and bowing to her. "The two of us together will be strong enough to take on any trainers or wild pokémon we come across. And besides if we do get hurt we've got Winter's chansey to heal us up. What could go wrong?"

About an hour later the four trainers reached the start of victory road. The most surprising thing about it was the fact it wasn't actually a road. It was more of a small river then leading on to a large cavern at the northern end. Once you had gotten through that cavern you'd find yourself in an open grass field and finally a road, leading up to the indigo plateau and the Kanto Championship. The four of them were currently standing at the river edge, looking across at the tree line on the other side and a large gaping cave hole in the rock face. It seemed rather intimidating but Joe wasn't scared. Besides if he wanted to take on the Elite 4 he'd have to go through it. There was no choice in the matter. The four trainers turned to each other.

"So who's doing the swimming?" Tom asked. Three pairs of eyes fixed on Winter. She stared back.

"Hold up a minute, I'm not carrying all of you." She argued, defiantly. "I don't have any pokémon big enough to carry two people. Besides two of you have water types." She glared at Joe and Tom.

"I wanted to give Blastoise a rest." Tom admitted, shamefacedly. Her mild anger was more frightening than a rampaging family of primapes after someone had stolen all their bananas. She narrowed her eyebrows.

"Well maybe I wanted to give my pokémon a rest for once. They're always carrying people around on their backs. It must be so exhausting." She argued. She spun around and turned her back on them, folding her arms and raising her chin in the air, rebelliously. "You'll just have to carry me across instead." She snapped. The three boys looked at each other.

"I don't have any water pokémon." Rocky told them. "There's not really anything I can do about this."

"We could use your Blastoise." Joe added, pointing at Tom. Tom shook his head.

"Come on. He needs a rest. He's been swimming around all day. To be honest I think he's a bit sick of it right now." He snapped his fingers suddenly. "Hey, you've got a lapras. They're known for carrying people over water. Why don't we get her to carry us?" Joe looked unsure.

"I don't know about that." He admitted hurriedly. "She's new to my team. I haven't even tried surfing with her yet. She may not react well to carrying four people."

"She'll have to. She's the only one who really can right now. Winter's on strike, I don't have a water type and Tom's Blastoise is reluctant."

Joe rubbed his forehead. "Surely though we could persuade it to carry at least…" He stopped, seeing the three pairs of eyes glowering at him. He sighed. "Alright." He agreed giving up. "I'll get out Sirena." He reluctantly unclipped his great ball from his pocked and opened it, releasing his large tough shelled sea monster onto the river water. Sirena the lapras floated gracefully on the water top, her flippers and lower body hidden under the waves, probably sat on the shallow water edge. She looked back at her trainer. "Alright. Sirena, can you carry the four of us across the river and to that cave." Joe asked, pointing over at the small hill and large cave opening in its side. Sirena followed his gaze then turned back and nodded, calmly. Joe smiled, surprised. "Really?" He asked. "Huh, nice. Okay then. Everybody onboard!" Her simple reaction to his request had surprised him. He'd expected her to be unsure or unhappy about carrying so many people. Nami certainly wouldn't have done it. She had found it tough to carry Joe, forget about carrying four people his age. It was probably a fact that was built into her nature. The will to carry people over oceans and from island to island. It was part of her evolutionary genetics. The thought of her carrying someone never crossed her as a bad idea. She was completely calm. Sirena was completely serene. Hurriedly the four trainers climbed onto her shell and sat on her back, their feet hanging above the water. They had all had to bunch up together so that they didn't fall off and into the water, but there was enough room for all of them. Sirena hardly seemed to struggle with the weight of them. She simply flapped her flippers about in the water and pushed away from the riverbed, gliding slowly, serenely across the water surface. Ralph flew after them, following at a slow speed so that he didn't shoot past them or tire himself out. They weren't going very fast so he wouldn't go very fast.

"Umph" All four trainers exclaimed slightly as they were jolted forwards by Sirena pushing herself forwards sharply in the water. They grabbed hold of the thick spines protruding from her shell a held on for sturdiness. Sirena simply swam on, making - not terribly fast but still relatively quick – progress towards the opposite bank. In the water around them they could see magikarp, poliwags and goldeen swimming under its surface, picking up all the tiny bugs that had drowned there and loose plant matter. Above the water a small flock of psyduck hatchling were learning to swim, being led by a much older looking golduck mother. They weren't doing a very good job of it because they were too busy trying to subdue their constant chronic headaches. Psyduck, it seemed, were born with severe migraines. It was surprising the kind of things you'd see while travelling. 'That's one of the brilliant things about being a trainer.' Joe thought. 'Not only are you building your own family and friends but you also get a glimpse into the lives of these creatures in their natural habitats. It was fascinating.' He didn't have terribly long to think about it, however because Sirena soon reached the opposite bank of the river and the four young teenagers got off. Joe thanked her for the ride and withdrew Sirena back to her pokéball. Then he turned. The cavern was just ahead of him now. Victory Road. In all its damp dark glory. He felt a shiver. Not from the cold wind that was now echoing out from the entrance but from the realisation how big a step this was going to be. His entire life would change if he did this. If he made it through victory road then he'd reach the Indigo Plateau and be allowed to face the elite four. If he did that and won then, if the league had found a champion, he'd have to battle them too. Losing was no problem really. If he failed to get through victory road the first time then could come back and try again. If he lost to one of the elite four he could keep coming back and trying until he won. If he faced the champion and lost no one would laugh at him. In fact they'd probably applaud him for trying. Most people who tried failed to beat the elite four, even more so lost to the champion. But if he won… If he won then he would be done. He wouldn't be allowed to go back and try again. People would come to expect things of him. Thing she felt it would be too tough to keep up for long. But if he didn't try then what was the point. That was what he'd decided. He was just going to battle them. He wouldn't aim to win and he wouldn't cry if he lost. He just wanted to try. To see just how powerful he was. To see how far he could get. To at least show his potential before his graceful defeat. And if he changed his mind he could always come back.

"Are you ready?" Tom asked him. He nodded, determined. Simulations and as a group they stepped in through the entrance hole.

Victory road itself was a long and arduous maze. The cavern had about three levels, the ground floor, the first level and the second level. Most of the first level was cut off by a large stone cave wall but there was a ladder leading to the level above. The group took it one by one, their cave lights flashing in the dark from their positions in their hands and on their foreheads. Tom went up first, then Rocky, then Winter who was helped up by Joe. Winter was making a bit of a fuss of the scenery. Due to her fear of the dark she was constantly looking around like a paranoid owl and panicking at the slightest sound. What set her of was a low howling of wind from deep within the cave. She shook on the rope ladder and swung around, hanging on for dear life and shutting her eyes tight.

"Dear gods make it go away!" She exclaimed, her voice squeaking with a surprising amount of fear. Joe struggled to hold her still, holding onto her legs while she hung onto the ladder with her arms. He was careful where he put his hands just in case he touched something by accident that he shouldn't. She kicked his in the chin and he winced.

"Careful." He snapped, worriedly holding her still. She finally managed to catch her foot onto one of the steps as the howling wind died down. She sighed with relief and quickly pulled herself up the ladder. Joe began to climb as well, making sure not to look up. When they reached the top they found Tom and Rocky sitting next to a large stalagmite, laughing at them.

"Well…" Tom chuckled. "If that was not ridiculously awkward then I don't know what is."

"That was just too funny." Rocky bawled, hardly able to control his laughter. "The tough girl is too scared of the dark to climb a ladder without panicking." Winter glared at him as she sat down against another stalagmite.

"Shut up." She muttered.

"Guys, don't start annoying each other." Joe warned as his head appeared from the ladder hole and his arms pulled him through. "Leave her alone. It's not fun being afraid of things." The two of them stopped laughing gradually.

"Sorry." Tom apologised, sincerely. "I didn't actually know you were afraid of the dark." Winter looked away. Rocky stood up again.

"If you want you guys can rest while Tom and I go look for the way ahead." Rocky volunteered. Joe nodded.

"That would be good." He agreed. Rocky nodded and tapped Toms shoulder. Reluctantly he got back up to his feet and the two of them walked away into the dark, leaving Joe, Winter and Ralph alone for a minute. Winter had begun to shiver. Even while wearing her coat she couldn't get warm.

"Are you okay?" Joe asked kindly. Winter didn't look at him.

"C-Cold." She whispered, her teeth chattering. Joe moved closer to her, passing her his own jumper. He put it over her coat shoulders and she snuggled up into it, the two of them sitting close to each other, trying to warm up. "But now you'll be cold." Winter told him. Joe shook his head.

"I'll manage." He told her, not being exactly honest. He was already beginning to feel chilly. Around them the dark grew.

"Is there anything you could do to make it lighter in here?" Winter asked. Joe tapped his fingers together then pulled out a pokéball. He released it and Pippy jumped out, now full of life again.

"Pippy, use flash!" Joe instructed. Pippy charged up static inside his body and released, sending out a bright flash of light all around the cave. The light illuminated the floor, roof and far walls all around. Pippy then sat back on Joe's lap and curled up into a ball to keep himself warm. Winter seemed a little happier now.

"Thanks." She said. Joe smiled back. There was a long silence. Then finally Joe spoke.

"So, why are you afraid of the dark?" he asked, curiously. Winter looked at him, unsure.

"I don't really know. I just always have been. As far as I can remember it's been the one real thing that terrifies me. Why? I can't be the only person like that. Surely at some point you've been afraid of the dark, too. What about when you were just a little kid." Joe thought for a second.

"No." He said finally. "I don't think I ever have. The dark doesn't really scare me that much. It actually intrigues me. There's so much more to see in the darkness of night."

"It's not the darkness of night that scares me." Winter argued. "It's the darkness inside that I don't like. Like the dark in a house or in a cave where there's no natural light. There's no moon in here to allow us some form of seeing. In here it is pitch black. It's that blackness that scares me the most." She calmed down a little now, trying to think of something else.

"As a question of perspective…" Joe began. "What is it that actually scares you? The dark itself or what is in the darkness?" Winter was silent.

"What's in the darkness." She answered finally. "The idea that you can't see something but it can see you. That's what scares me the most. It's the most primal fear of all." Joe nodded his head.

"Ah." He said. "So you're paranoid." She looked at him.

"No I'm not." She smiled, slapping him on the arm. He winced.

"Ow." He laughed, smiling brightly. "That hurts."

"Well stop making fun of me." She laughed too. They both sat there, laughing quietly for a short while. Up above them a small cluster of zubats scattered from their perch on the roof and flew away into the dark. Ralph quickly took up resting position where they had been, folding up his wings and looking down on his companion and his friend. The two of them finally stopped laughing but stayed smiling, trying to avoid eye contact.

"Besides, there's nothing to be scared of in the dark. Nothing that lives in it can harm you. And with Ralph around he'll be able to point us in the right directions." He pointed up at his pokémon who was hanging from a stalactite, looking down and watching them. His yellow eyes were the only thing visible in the growing darkness above. Joe scratched the back of his head. "And besides I'm always here to cover your back." He added, quietly.

"Ha, yes, my two gallant heroes, here to save me from the impending damnation of eternal darkness." Winter laughed. Joe's expression was more serious now. He wasn't joking.

"No, seriously. Me and Ralph, we'll always be there to help you out. That's what a friend does." He paused. "If and when you need help, of course." He added sheepishly. She looked at him. She felt like she'd been missing something. That something had been slapping her in the face with its obviousness but she hadn't been able to spot it till now. Something clicked in her head. A thought. It was strong but honest. A suggestion that there was more between the two of them. She looked him in the eyes. For a second their stares met. There it was. That honest to god human kindness of his. He was true, truer than any other guy she'd known in her entire life. It wasn't like she'd met many other guys but she knew the male gender well enough. She knew Joe was a good guy all this time otherwise she wouldn't have stuck with him. He was a friend. But now she saw something else. Something more than friendship. Something more powerful then friendship. Joe was like a tower. He was not necessarily big or strong or completely resilient. He had the capacity to show human emotion. But he was determined. He was unstoppable, both in body and spirit. When he was defeated or destroyed he simply rebuilt himself and made sure he was stronger. And most of all he had his entire existence looked behind his hard shell. His kindness, his morality, his friendliness, his need to do good by his friends and by what he felt was right. But most of all, his compassion and belief for those he travelled with. He believed in his pokémon. He trusted his friends. It was almost innocent. And all of this humanity was the bell that range from the top of the tower. It all showed behind his sky blue eyes. She felt her heart stop for a split second. In his own way, she realised, Joe was a legendary of his own kind. A one in a million. She gulped.

"Thank you." She muttered honestly. They sat there looking into each other's eyes for a little longer. Time around them seemed to slow to a near awkward stop. She gulped. "Joe, I…"

"Winter, I…" They spoke together, and then stopped, embraced. They looked away, sheepishly, breaking eye contact. Then they heard footsteps getting closer again. Tom and Rocky rounded the corner to see Winter and Joe sitting next to each other, Joe without his jumper on and with his Pikachu on his lap, and Winter with Joe's jumper around her shoulders. They looked at the scene, unsuspectingly.

"You ready to go yet?" Tom asked.

"We found the way on." Rocky added. "There's a path leading to the second level over here." He nodded at them. "Do you want to go now?" He asked. Joe and Winter looked back at each other. Without saying anything he withdrew Pippy and she passed him his jumper back. Together they stood up and joined their friends, Ralph diving down from the ceiling and floating in the air beside them.

"Ok then." Joe announced. "Let's go."

They continued on through Victory Road, past many dens of wild pokémon and the occasional pokémon trainer. A couple of them tried to battle them but either Tom or Joe dealt with them easily. Some of them got lucky and landed a good hit on one of their pokémon but the rest had been simple to defeat. They kept on walking until finally they saw daylight up ahead. It was a small dot at first but still visible. The exit was just ahead of them. As one they ran towards it and burst through, glad to be in daylight again. Well, noon light anyway. They'd been in the tunnel so long that it was already getting close to night again. In the distance the sun was hanging by a thin string over the world, slowly marching toward the horizon. Small lines of orange light were turning p over the fields and hills. Ahead of them was a half mile path and in the distance, sitting grandly on top of a small hill, was the indigo Plateau. They stopped, panting for breath and looking on at the distant building.

"Finally." Winter gasped. "We made it. The Kanto league." She smiled. That was a hell of an adventure we had getting here."

"Yeah." Joe agreed, also gasping. "But now we're out." They looked up at the league ahead of them. The building wasn't tall but it was clearly very long. Five spherical domes sat behind it, just visible, clearly the arenas for each member of the elite four, including the champion, to battle their challengers in. They stood looking at it for a few seconds.

"We should get going again." Tom said. "Before it gets dark." They all nodded in agreement and continued walking.

It took them only twenty minutes to get all the way to the Indigo Plateau. The large colourless building sat in front of them like a mountain. They stepped inside. The interior of the entrance was no almost the exact same as a normal pokémon centre with two exceptions. The first was there was a small counter for items and other useful battle tools. The seconds was a small doorway at the far left of the room with a guard standing next to it and a plaque above it reading 'Elite Four League Challenge Path. Walk if you dare.' The four of them stood in the middle of the room looking around. Tom finally spoke up.

"Which of us should take the challenge first?" He asked. Joe shrugged.

"I think you should." Joe told him. "Fighting the Elite Four was your dream so you should get the chance to do so first." Tom smiled gratefully at him.

"Thanks mate." He told him.

"You should probably wait till the morning, though." Joe added quickly "Give your pokémon a rest and all. It would be a bad idea to jump into this head first." Tom smiled cheekily at him.

"Nah!" He exclaimed. "I think we're ready to go. They got a rest up here and should be strong enough to win. I got a bunch of potions before I came up here so they're in no danger. Thanks for the concern." He turned and without another word ran off towards the entrance to elite four battle rooms. "I'll come find you after!" He called back, waving wildly. Joe and his friends just stared at him amazed as he flashed his badges at the guard and walked in through the double doorway.

"He's mad!" Rocky exclaimed. "Wanting to battle the elite four without resting? That's practically suicide!"

"I think he's gotten a bit overconfident." Joe agreed. "Must have been winning that battle against me." He sighed and shifted his bag. "Oh well. We'll have to wait till he's done now. They can only battle one trainer at a time, after all. Let's get some rest and I'll try battling them tomorrow morning." They nodded and walked off towards the resting rooms. They found a room each and set up camp in them. Joe slept in a room across the hall from Winter and Rocky's separate rooms. He couldn't sleep, however. The anticipation for what he was going to do was too much for him. Ralph lay next to him, also unable to sleep, mainly because Joe kept turning over and talking to him about whether he was ready to battle tomorrow or not. Ralph had just grunted to all of them. Finally Joe couldn't take it any longer. He got up, took his pokéballs back from the nurses and went for a walk, bringing Ralph with him. The time was about ten minutes to midnight and the mood was just above them, glowing like a dull lamp bulb in the sky. Ralph flew with him, glad that if he wasn't allowed to sleep he could at least do something to keep him awake. They walked on towards Victory Road again. The cave entrance was much darker at night. This wasn't surprising.

"Ok, we're just going to do a bit of training to get ready for tomorrow. Joe explained to his friend. Ralph nodded, stifling a yawn. Joe nodded back. "Ok, good. Hopefully we won't be too long. Only an hour or so. They stepped inside.

Twelve hours later Joe stepped back out, exhausted, tired and fed up but still standing. A steely look of determination was on his face. Something had happened to him during his time in the cave. What it was however was for another story to tell. He reached the Indigo Plateau in no time and found his friends waiting for him by the nurse's counter. When they saw him they rushed him, slightly angry and slightly worried.

"Where have you been?" Winter demanded. Joe yawned.

"Training." He said simply, his expression not changing.

"You've been gone all night" Winter explained. "We didn't know where you were. You could've been in trouble."

"Well I wasn't." Joe retorted.

"Are you ready to face the elite four now?" Rocky asked. "The guard came out and said that the previous challenger had finished and that the next ones should get ready and sign up."

"Thank you, Rocky." Joe said. He quickly handed his pokémon to the nurse who took them, gave them a swift heal and handed them back.

"Do you have enough items to use?" Winter asked. Joe nodded. He had bought a few potions and about twelve revives to use, two for each of his pokémon. He knew that he couldn't use them in battle otherwise it would never end. He bought them to use afterwards if any of his pokémon were KO'd.

"Will you both be watching from the sides?" Joe asked. They shook their heads.

"We're not allowed." Winter explained. "In case we cheat and help you out or something like that. Don't worry. We'll be watching from the crowd and if you win we'll see you afterwards."

"And if I don't?" Joe asked. Winter went quiet. She didn't know what to answer that question with. Joe lowered his head. "Alright." He told them. "I'm ready. Let's get this over with." With the slow walk of a man striding safely away from an explosion, Joe strolled slowly towards to the entrance of the League Challenge path. The memory of Tom beating him was gone from his mind and from his team's mind. New determination flooded through their bodies. They were going to battle, they were going to challenge the elite four… and they were going to win! He stepped up to the guard and handed him his pokedex, followed by his small walled with the eight gym badges inside. The guard took them, checked them and then handed it back with an accepting nod, followed by a simple point towards the large wooden doors. Joe nodded his thanks and walked over to them. All fear drained away from his body. He felt free. Calmly yet dramatically he stopped, held out his hands and pushed the doors open. His challenge had begun. He stepped inside.

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**And now, the story reaches its end. Last stop: The Elite Four and the Champion. Enjoy a lot of battling and keep reviewing. Advice is wanted 24/7.**


	36. Chapter 36: Elite Four Lorelei

**The first battle with the first of the Elite Four. Enjoy.**

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Joe walked down a long dark hallway in front of him. It was so dark that the walls themselves were barely visible. The only light came from the far end of the hall where presumable the exit was into the arena. Through that opening the sound of a crowd could be heard chattering. They weren't cheering yet because there was nothing to cheer at. Joe walked on, his arms at his side and his hat tilted up so his face was visible. He felt nervous but he kept going. It was too late to turn back now. The doors had been locked behind him. That was the point of the challenge. Once you entered you couldn't turn back. He turned to Ralph who was floating beside him. He too looked unsure.

"Nervous?" Joe asked. Ralph nodded. Joe understood. "Don't worry." He said. "Whatever happens here today we'll still be friends. And if we don't win we'll keep training till we do." Ralph smiled at him. He had full confidence in his friend's words. They had gotten this far together, they could still get further. Together they nodded in the dark. No matter whether they won or lost they would not be angry with themselves. The light got closer and closer. Finally they stepped through it and beyond the hallway. The light blinded them for a few seconds. The crowd suddenly roared into clapping and cheering. The sound resonated around the room, creating a strange echo of the glass dome ceiling and solid stone walls. When Joe's eyes came back into focus he could see where he was. He and Ralph were standing at the far left side of a huge light blue battle dome, the kind used for competitions or arena matches. They were particularly common over in Sinnoh where they had the Battle Frontier where many different trainers and forms of battling were located. In most other regions they were only found at the pokémon leagues. The stone walls were painted ice blue and there was a small ring of water drifting around in a shallow trench around the dome edge. The battlefield itself was the simple design, a long rectangular field with a circle at the centre and a line running through it to suggest each trainer's side. Apart from that there was nothing else on it. The circle was colour ice white as well and supposedly even made of ice but there was no terrain or obstacles to the pitch. It was set so that both trainers had equal chance. An announcer's voice suddenly boomed over loud speakers.

_"__Ladies and gentlemen! Welcome back to the Kanto League!"_ The male excitable voice exclaimed jovially. The crowd's cheering became a roar. _"Today we have another young challenger for you. So soon after the previous one, too. You all remember how amazing that was."_ Joe smiled to himself. 'So Tom had done well.' He thought. The announcer continued. _"I present to you, all the way from Pallet Town, will you please welcome…"_ There was a short pause for tension. _"Joseph Glende!"_ The crowd burst into applause. There was cheering, whistling, people waving Kantosian flags. Joe felt a little uncomfortable. He wasn't used to seeing so many people cheering for him. It was probably something he'd have to get used to. He waved his hand at the crowd. There were cheers all around. He heard a couple of people shout things like. 'Look! A Crobat! He must be skilled!' and 'Wow! I wander what his team is like?'. Joe turned. Ralph was looking a little taken aback. The sound of the crowd was clearly hurting his sensitive ears a little and the amount of focus on him especial was making him nervous. Joe patted his shoulder.

"Don't worry, buddy." He smiled. "Just try not to focus on them" Ralph nodded, giving him a determined smile. Joe smiled back. Deep inside him he felt that he should really try and follow his own advice. He felt his legs shaking slightly with the nerves of what he was doing. Then the announcer began to speak again.

_"__And now enters the first of the Elite Four!"_ He shouted eagerly through the speakers. _"You all now here amazing skill with ice and her frozen cold heart knows how to shatter opponents into submission. Please give it up foooor… Lorelei!"_ The far wooden doors at the end of the dome battleground swung open heavily and white mist flooded out. Through the doorway walked a tall, well dressed woman. She wasn't terribly young, only thirty years old at least but still looking good for her age, with a light purple skirt running down to her knees and a black sleeveless corset vest. She had long dart red hair pinned behind her back and flowing along her side. She walked calmly up to the centre of the stage in her small black high heeled shoes and stopped, standing at the edge of the ice circlet at the centre of the field. She waved to the crowd and they fell silent.

"Welcome, friends, to another challenge battle against the elite four. It is so good to see so many smiling faces in the crowd. I wish to treat you all to another grand battle against this new worthy trainers." The crowd cheered again.

"We love you, Lorelei!" Some excited fan shouted. Weirdly enough it was a man's voice that shouted that one. Lorelei turned to face Joe now.

"You have called a challenge to the Elite Four and we have answered. I shall be your first challenger. I am Lorelei, the Ice type user." She reached for a pokéball already. She then nodded her head at him. She seemed to be hinting to him to speak. Joe gasped in realisation and began thinking up what he should say.

"My name is Joseph Glende." He told her, loudly. "From Pallet Town. I do not focus on a single type." Lorelei nodded, a small forthcoming smile growing at the side of her mouth.

"Very good." She said quietly. "So, Mr. Glende, you wish to challenge me? I accept, though I shall not go easy on you. My ice pokémon and I are the front line wall of the League. We test all the would-be champions and see if they are just ready enough to truly make it. This is where you first prove yourself. Battle me and win. And then you may continue onwards." She called out so that the crowd could hear her. The roared their approval. Lorelei unclipped a pokéball. The announcer spoke again.

_"__Trainers! Take your places!"_ Joe walked slowly to his edge of the field. Lorelei did the same, standing opposite him on her side of the field. Joe reached for his first pokéball. It was a simple red ball, the normal kind most trainers used. There was a short silence as the anticipation built. Then finally it was released. "Let the battle… Begin!" The announcer shouted. And both trainers released their pokémon.

Two pokémon landed on the field. One was a large white sea lion pokémon called Dewgong, the other was a small, yellow mouse with brown stripes called Pippy. Both trainers looked at each other for a while… Then the battle began.

"Dewgong, use Ice Beam!" Lorelei commanded. Dewgong sat in a small puddle of water, using its thin, skin long flippers to push itself along. It raised its small horned head and opened its mouth. Small ice particles began to form in its gaping jaws and focused into a small ball. Then it fired, sending a thin beam of ice from its mouth.

"Dodge it!" Joe instructed. Pippy jumped aside and rolled away, avoiding the beam which passed by Joe's head, narrowly avoiding freezing it solid. "Whoa!" He exclaimed, feeling the cold energy from the beam tickle his skin as it passed and froze the wall behind him. "Ok, good work." He complemented. "Now, use Thunderbolt!" Joe instructed. Pippy charged static into his cheeks and released, sending a large, godlike bolt of electricity out of his body and towards the opponent. Dewgong was hit by the attack, clenching its muscles as the static caused it to spasm. It held its ground, however and readied for another attack.

"Signal Beam!" Lorelei called. Dewgong sent a thin rotating beam of insect green energy from its horn and aimed it on Pippy, following his attempts to dodge aside. Pippy jumped aside only to find the beam following him as Dewgong kept up its attack. He jumped to the left. The beam followed.

"Set up a substitute!" Joe instructed. As Pippy jumped aside he quickly formed a small Pikachu like doll from his health and propped it in front of him. The signal beam hit the substitute and bounced away. The substitute stayed in one piece this time.

_"__Oh, that's a great strategy we're seeing, folks!"_ The announcer spoke suddenly. _"Using a substitute as a wall against Dewgong's attacks. Let's see how well this plan plays out for him."_ Dewgong flapped its fins together, aggressively. Pippy sparked threateningly.

"Headbutt!" Lorelei instructed again. Dewgong suddenly sped forwards, its head lowered to ram Pippy in the chest, using the small puddle of water following it to move forwards at top speed.

"Prepare to jump!" Joe called. Pippy nodded, understanding. Dewgong sped forwards. It was almost right in front of him now. Pippy tensed himself behind his defence substitute. "Jump!" Joe called finally. Pippy jumped. He curled into a ball in the air and sparked with static. Dewgong rammed headfirst into the small yellow body… which dissolved into dust. The crowd gasped with surprise. They hadn't expected that. Even Lorelei looked a little surprised. Dewgong looked back to see the real Pikachu landing behind it and sparking wildly. Pippy fell to all fours and released his static, sending a large bolt of sizzling electricity from his cheek. The bolt struck Dewgong in the side as it spun around to face him. It seized up with the static for a few seconds, unable to move. When finally the paralysis wore of it was surrounded by a ring of Pikachu's. Pippy had set up a double team around it. The crowd was quiet with tension, a few words of excitement echoed quietly around the room. Dewgong was looking from moving Pikachu to moving Pikachu, unable to tell the difference between the real one and the fake ones. A small body jumped at it from the corner of its eyes and it spun around, narrowly avoiding being hit.

"Slap it with your tail!" Lorelei called. Dewgong waited to see movement. Then, when it did, it spun around on the spot. Its large, thin tail slapped Pippy in the side as he jumped forwards, knocking him away and dissolving his Double Team. He rolled aside painfully but stayed standing. He was doing very well actually, especially considering that he hadn't evolved and that he had been losing a lot against stronger pokémon recently. Dewgong looked ready to collapse already.

"It's almost down!" Joe told him. "Use thunderbolt one last time!" Pippy nodded and began to spark again. Lorelei smiled to herself.

"Rest." She instructed, simply. Dewgong fell asleep. It dropped its head to the floor and shut its eyes, beginning to snore soundly. As it did so its body seemed to heal up, all the damage it had taken washing away as it regained strength. Pippy released his attack. The electricity sparked through the air like mild lightning and hit Dewgong in the side. It did not wake. Pippy raised an eyebrow. So did Joe.

"Didn't see that coming." He muttered to himself. Pippy looked back at him and shrugged, cynically.

_"__What a change of events!"_ The announcer chirped. The excitement of the crowd was growing. _"Just when it looked like the challenger would take out one of her pokémon she turns it around with a rest, healing Dewgong up in seconds. Let's see how our challenger deals with this from now on."_ Lorelei was smiling at her opponent.

"Surely you didn't expect me to just let you defeat one of my pokémon like that?" She chuckled, quietly. "Really. I'm a member of the Elite Four, not some simple street trainer who does this as a hobby." She put her hands on her hips, her sunglasses (Which was a really strange dress choice for an Ice Type user) slipping down her nose. "Time to wake up!" She sang, dramatically. Dewgong's eyes suddenly snapped open. It scowled its eyebrows and glared at Pippy, new energy filling its body. It growled with an aquatic mammalian tone and readied another attack. "Ice Beam!" Lorelei commanded. An ice beam fired from Dewgong's mouth and struck Pippy in the leg, freezing it solid to the floor. He tugged desperately at the ice but couldn't free himself. When he looked back up he was struck in the chest by Dewgong's small horn. He was freed from the ice but also sent sailing backwards through the air. He landed painfully on his back, his skin rustling with static. Dewgong was already preparing an attack again. An ice beam formed in its mouth.

"Get up!" Joe called, but not unkindly. "Strike it while it's charging!" Pippy got up weekly and glared at Dewgong. It was about to release its attack. With a determined expression growing on his face, Pippy began to spark. Static energy rippled around his body like storm waves on a restless ocean. Dewgong's ice beam was nearly ready now. Then they both fired. Dewgong's Ice beam got about an inch away from its mouth before Pippy's thunderbolt hit it strait in the back of the throat. It froze up suddenly, its mouth closing shut and the ice beam disappearing before it could begin. Its eyes were wide but empty. Slowly, it began to tilt to its side. Like a free tree trunk it rolled onto its side and fell still on its back. It lay there completely defeated. The crowd erupted into cheered. There was wild clapping all around. Several people whistled and a chant went up.

'Pippy! Pippy! Pippy!' they called, roaring with excitement. Lorelei looked quite surprised. Then she simply withdrew her first pokémon. She bowed at Joe.

"Very nicely done." She complemented. The crowd continued to cheer. "You really do have some power in you. But let's see if you can keep it up." She smiled and reached for another pokéball. Wordlessly she threw it up, releasing out her second pokémon. As it appeared a large purple shell became visible. From the shell a large silver spike poked out of the top, facing forwards. It the centre of the shell a large black orb sat, two scalene eyes looking out evilly. The shell closed and opened a couple of times, the pokémon inside trying to intimidate its opponent. "Alright, Cloyster, let's do this for Dewgong." Lorelei told it. Cloyster cackled, almost as sinisterly as a Gengar. (As it turns out Cloyster is very distantly related to Gengar. If you were to remove its shell you would find that Cloyster's internal body is simply a black orb. Gastly, the first evolution of Gengar, is, effectively, a black orb with ghostly gas around it. Physically the two are made up very similar it's almost inconvenient. This was something many people who noticed it argued over as both pokémon were of very different types. After all one was a ghost, the other was a clam. It was just not possible. Was it? Luckily the two species cannot breed so no one can really prove either side.) Joe cracked his knuckles, eagerly.

"Pippy, can you still battle?" Pippy nodded. "Good. Let's get this battle won! Use Thunderbolt!" Pippy swelled up with static, his fur getting spikier as his electric power grew.

"Spike Cannon!" Lorelei commanded. Cloyster fired a volley of large spikes from inside its shell, aimed arrowfiredly at Pippy's hide.

"Fire!" Joe called. Pippy released his massive spark in the form of a long and powerful thunderbolt. At the same time he rolled aside dodging most of the spikes aimed at him. Most. One small spike was lucky enough to hit him in the thigh. The thunderbolt shot across the field like an arrow from the gods.

"Protect!" Lorelei called. Cloyster shut its shell, closing itself inside. As it did so a large transparent green shield formed around it. The thunderbolt struck it and dispersed into useless, harmless sparks. Cloyster opened its shell again and the protect shield faded away. Pippy seemed both surprised and annoyed. The damn thing had blocked his attack.

"Coward" Joe muttered under his breath. Thankfully it did not go heard from either Lorelei or the audience.

_"__Oh, cunning!"_ The announcer excitedly bantered on. _"Tricking the opponent into wasting energy on hitting her protect. This is what you came to watch, folks. Talent and Strategy in its fullest use." _The crowd cheered wildly. Lorelei looked ready to take out his team already.

"Surf!" She instructed. Cloyster rose upwards on a wall of thick blue water. It floated above the crowd in the air, looking down evilly at the small yellow mouse. Joe narrowed his eyes, coming up with a plan to stop its attack.

"Alright, Pippy." Joe began. "Charge up your static! Let the wave hit you! Then release!" Pippy looked very unsure about this. Joe gave him a confident yet determined stare. "Don't worry. I know what I'm doing!" He explained. Pippy didn't feel as confident but stood his ground. Following his trainers command he charged static electricity up into his body and pushed it into his fur which stood on end. Small sparks flew out of his red cheeks. His tail pricked up like a spear head through the earth. Then the wave came crashing down towards him like a steam train going off its rails. The water wall collapsed, falling away unto the battlefield. Cloyster fell with it, coated in water yet unharmed at all by its own attack. Then the wave struck. Pippy was washed away by the attack, sent floating quickly backwards and into the shallow trench around the walls. His static was sapped from his body, sent rippling back up the wave and struck Cloyster from all directions. The small flickers of electricity tickled it and burned its soft inner shell. The static rippled over the entire field, causing the watery ring to turn into an electronic landmine. Cloyster didn't stand a chance. The damage it continuously took from the wave it had created was phenomenal. The static caused its muscles to spasm and its shell to shut, rendering it completely unable to battle. The crowd burst into cheers again. They were bellowing with excitement now. Lorelei looked very surprised by how quickly she was being beaten. But she still had her three strongest pokémon left to fight. Calmly she withdrew Cloyster from the battle. Its shell sparked slightly in the now evaporating water as it was taken back to its trainer. Lorelei thanked it for fighting and put the pokéball back to her side. Pippy was looking quite happy with himself about this. However he was breathing heavily and struggling to stay standing on all fours, even when kneeling. It wasn't likely he would be able to take out any more of Lorelei's pokémon. Joe reached for his pokéball.

"Ok, Pippy. It's time to come back as well." He murmured. Pippy sighed with relief and happily disappeared back inside his pokéball. Joe clipped it back to his belt and reached for a second pokéball. With a simple flick he sent the ball sailing up into the air. It snapped open sharply, sending out its red beam of light. "Come on out, Pitt!" Joe yelled. The large venusaur appeared suddenly out on the field, his flower rustling and his head reared up. He roared defiantly. Lorelei was up next. She unclipped a third pokéball and threw it out, releasing a rather dopey looking Slowbro onto her side of the field. It yawned loudly and stretched its pudgy arms. Pitt just glared at it like it was embarrassing. He stifled a snicker. Lorelei's eyebrows were narrowed to a point.

"Alright, Slowbro, it's time to shine!" She told it. Slowbro stomped a tardy foot on the floor. Water specks jumped up of the ice at its feet. The crowd was growing restless now. So far Lorelei had lost two of her pokémon and had failed to take out even one. They wanted to see this change.

_"__Down to her third pokémon already!"_ The announcer boomed over the speakers. _"Can Lorelei bring the battle back into her favour? Let's see how events turn out!" _Lorelei clenched her fists and tapped her knuckles together, thoughtfully.

"Ice Beam!" Lorelei commanded. Slowbro readied its attack. Joe was prepared already.

"Pitt, protect!" He instructed. Pitt formed a large green shield around him in the nick of time. The ice beam reached him and deflected off the shield, shattering into many small shards. Pitt lowered his shield. Lorelei smiled. Her strategy was playing out already.

"Psychic!" Lorelei called. Slowbro released a large sphere of psychic energy which shot out around the battlefield and bounced off the walls. Pitt winced under its power, his knees buckling slightly.

"Hold on, Pitt!" Joe called. "Use Solarbeam on it!" Pitt gathered light through his flower and green light began to glow through his lips. He opened his mouth and a large beam of green light shot out of it, striking Slowbro square in the chest. It fell backwards and rolled over, receiving a lot of damage but managing to withstand most of it, seemingly. As it got back up it panted and scratched its belly, uncomfortably. It hardly seemed aware it was being attacked. Lorelei gritted her teeth in concentration.

"Water gun!" She called simply. Slowbro calmly puffed its cheeks with a closed mouth and then pursed them, sending a small jet of water out which soared through the cold arena air and patted Pitt in the face, dripping down like raindrops. It hardly seemed to do anything at all. Pitt simply smiled it, cheekily. He took a step forwards and prepared to charge.

"Tackle!" Joe called. Pitt lowered his head and rushed forwards, aiming for Slowbro's head.

"Ice beam!" Lorelei commanded. Aim for the water on its body!" Slowbro fired an ice beam which struck Pitt in the shoulder. He winced and skidded to a halt only 5 feet away from Slowbro. Where the beam had struck his right leg had frozen up. Along his neck and face freezing droplets of ice had formed where the water had been. Pitt was now sitting perfectly still, shivering, teeth chatting as the cold ice covering him froze him where he was. Lorelei smiled. Now she had the advantage. "Yawn!" She called. Slowbro opened its huge mouth and yawned right in Pitt's face. Pitt closed his mouth and averted his eyes, trying to concentrate on not yawning too. He shivered in the cold, small icicles forming on his nose as his body temperature dropped. Ice was now covering half his body. His jaw tugged as his body desperately called to expel carbon dioxide from his lungs but he refused. He knew that if he let it win he'd fall into a slumber and be defeated. He didn't want to do that till he'd at least made sure that IT couldn't do it again.

"Pitt, stay strong." Joe encouraged. Pitt growled back, ambivalently. "Earthquake it, now!" He called. Pitt shook his body. Small shards of ice broke away as he used all his strength to move himself. He pushed himself with his front legs and stood slightly over the ground on his back legs for a few seconds. A large pink sphere struck him and he winced. Slowbro had used another psychic and stopped his attack. He glowered at it. Slowbro gave him a dumb expression. Lorelei was looking very excited suddenly. "Come on. You can still take it out." Joe continued to encourage. Pitt focused his entire concentration into staying awake. He pushed himself up again and slowly, heavily raised himself up till he was standing impossibly on his back legs. He stood there at amazing height for way longer than anyone could have expected.

"Again!" Lorelei called. Slowbro fired another psychic. The attack hit Pitt in the stomach and he winced, but stayed standing, concentrating completely on finishing this specific fight. Slowbro stayed looking dumb, even after its brain realised how much trouble it was in. Lorelei however was looking really worried by his durability.

"How… is it…?" She asked, completely befuddled. Pitt closed his eyes, squeezing them shut. Then, finally, his jaw muscles loosened, his mouth opened wide and he yawned. The expulsion of heat and gas was weirdly relaxing. He felt his body relaxing. His legs weakened and his weight moved to his head. Then he fell. Like a great pine in a forest of twigs he fell forwards, all his weight focused into his front feet. His eyes stayed closed during the entire fall. Lorelei backed up, even though she was probably safe from the oncoming attack. Slowbro didn't even blink. Its stupid bulging eyes just watched obliviously as Pitt hit the frozen floor. The ground shook. Ice sheets cracked over the entire field. The pitch rippled like waves in a storm and stayed that way for the rest of the week. The crowd screamed and covered their heads as small glass pieces floated harmlessly down around them and plaster from the walls broke away. On Joe's side of the field he struggled to stay standing. His legs wobbled and fell away underneath him, causing him to reach out and stop himself hitting his head on the floor. Ralph beside him was feeling nauseous. He wasn't used to seeing the ground below and before him move so much. In a silent corner he took a moment to regain his balance and evacuate all oncoming illness before wiping his mouth and returning to Joe's side. Lorelei was even more unlucky. She had been knocked over onto her back and was forced to lie there till the mainshock subsided. Slowbro, however, was the most drastically effected. When the tremors subsided it was lying face down on the ground, its shell eaten tail pointed in the air and its mindless eyes looking out in both directions from the side of its head. Small specks of dust settled on it back. Pitt lay opposite it, snoring tiredly. The crowd was quiet in amazement, yet not for long.

_"__Oh my sweet Arceus, Ladies and Gentlemen!" _The announcer boomed. _"That was an amazing event we just witnessed. That's both trainers pokémon out for the count at the same time! I don't think any of us were expecting such a strong attack!"_ The crowd burst into wild applause again. There was even louder cheering. Now they were crying a new name.

"Jo-o, Jo-o, Jo-o…" They called. Joe was amazed at how well he was doing. He looked into the crowd. There were people, young and old, tall and short, male and female, trainer and non-trainer, all cheering his name. They wanted to see him win. The feeling was amazing. It washed over him like the knowledge of realisation. Before he had been worried that he'd embarrass himself in front of so many people, but now, after already beating three of Lorelei's pokémon, he could feel their respect for him. Their appreciation and love for his skill. He smiled to himself. Slowly he raised a hand and waved it at them. They cheered even louder now. All around multiple people were calling appraisal. Then Joe's eyes fixed on two figures watching from within the crowd. Two people who he respected a lot. Two people who he knew would have always been there to watch. Joe smile at them. Winter smiled back at him, trying to hide her pinking cheeks. Rocky was clapping along with the crowd, cheering wildly.

"Go on my son!" Joe heard him call over the roar of the crowd. He chuckled, turning back to the battle. Lorelei had already withdrawn Slowbro from the battle. There was no chance of it getting back up. In fact it was hard to tell if it was still alive. Come to think about it, it had been tough to tell if it was ever really alive, yet it had been visibly making attacks against his pokémon. Lorelei gritted her teeth harder, causing sparks in their small gaps.

"Alright. No more Mrs. nice girl." She muttered, just audibly. The crowd's cheering began to die down now, becoming a background sound among background sounds. She reached for another pokéball and released it, sending out a very new looking pokémon. This new pokémon was three foot tall, weird looking and worryingly effeminate. It had a long, skirted like red dress with two points and golden rings around the… **ackhem**… area. Underneath a set of long pointed golden hair a black face looked out with two small white eyes and a large pair of red lips. It did not stand. Instead it salsad around its side of the room, its skirt shaking like a hula dancers thighs. It sang… quite awfully. Its vocals created a weirdly catch beat which echoed around the room. Joe felt movement down bellow. He looked down and, to his own personal horror, saw that his legs were moving on their own. He looked away, embarrassed as his lower body mindlessly joined in the dance. Ralph was also suffering from the same problem. He was currently trying fly with his left side while his right wings clapped together and shook like rotors. He was looking very confused. Joe would have smiled if he hadn't found himself doing the same thing. Luckily for the crowd they were standing too far away to be effected. It also helped that they were all sitting down. Lorelei was chuckling to herself. She was dancing as well, although it looked like she was dancing out of own personal choice, as though she enjoyed it. "This is Jynx. She likes to dance. And when she's out so does everyone else." A horribly knowing grin grew on her face. "And it's time to put away the shrubbery because The Cold Is Coming!" She raised a clicking hand. "Jynx, blizzard!" Jynx kept dancing as it held out its hand and a huge storm of ice formed above her. The large ice particles hovered in the air for a few seconds before falling from the sky in their many. The huge lumps of frozen water truck the ground around the sleeping Pitt, who had only just woken up, and pelted him, freezing him solid in a large icicle. He sat there, wide eyed and stationary in his large point of frost. Joe was open mouthed. Lorelei was smiling. The crowd were clapping again. This time it was for Lorelei. She had just completely crushed one of his pokémon while also giving them some rather enjoyable mid battle entertainment. Jynx blew a kiss at the frozen venusaur who could hardly see her through his ice prison. Joe, wordlessly, took out Pitt's pokéball and withdrew him, taking a second to rest as his legs wore him out. Next to him Ralph bumped into him again, hanging like a loose covering from a vent as he attempted to dance a pirouette. Joe was feeling a little fed up. Mainly because he couldn't stop dancing. Lorelei however was looking very proud of herself. "Ok. Finally I've taken out one of your pokémon. Now we can truly start this battle." She was about to say something else when Joe stopped her.

"Uh, before you do that, you don't think you could stop whatever it is that's going on down here, do you?" He asked, pointing at his feet. "Only it's quite distracting." Lorelei smirked quietly. She clicked a demanding finger.

"Jynxy, ice beam." Jynx formed a beam of ice from its fingers and sent it at Joe's feet. The ice that hit him formed clusters tougher then concrete. Once both feet were done he sighed happily. He was currently standing in a very silly looking position, but at least he wasn't dancing any more. Ralph was looking at him, jealously.

"Thank you." Joe muttered, but not really that grateful. He reached for a new pokéball and readied it. "Let's go, Cinders!" He called and threw the pokéball. The huge charizard erupted from it as it touched ground, roaring dramatically. The crowd gasped in amazement. Cinders hovered of the floor, slowly flapping his wings and eyeing each of the audience members in person, suspiciously. They were clapping and cheering for him. Without command or warning he raised his head and released a huge flamethrower into the air. The crowd clapped louder now. This looked like it was going to be a good battle. Cinders now caught sight of Jynx swaying around on the ice floor. Jynx was smiling at him with pouted lips.

"Now shall we get back to the battle?" Lorelei asked, not exactly expecting an answer. Even if Joe wasn't ready it was clear she was going to make an attack anyway. Joe's eyes met with hers. Slowly he nodded. She smiled knowingly. "Alright then. Jynx, ice punch!" Jynx suddenly ran forwards in a strange kind of waltzing movement. This resulted in it running in a spiral around as it moved.

"Cinders, Fly high!" Joe called. Cinders gave one huge flap of his wings and shot several metres higher into the air, avoiding the incoming ice covered fist that was swinging it towards him. Jynx lashed out and missed, being struck in the side by Cinder's tail as he flew up above. Cinders rotated around Jynx's head from above, his tail flailing behind him. Then he dived again, shooting forwards like a fiery cannon ball. With immense power and heat he struck Jynx in the chest and kept on flying, pushing it back with him, both encased in a huge fireball. Their movement was suddenly halted by the wall in front of them as they crashed into it. Jynx collapsed to the ground, breathing heavily and looking angrily up at Cinders. Cinders landed on his feet, stretched his wings, raised his head, lowered it and released a huge pillar of flame onto the wall, covering Jynx completely in its light. For several seconds this went on, Cinders releasing hot white flame which scolded the wall and charred the brick. Joe smirked to himself. "Looks like Cinders' taken this one out already." He muttered. Lorelei was smiling still.

"I wouldn't be so sure." She told him. Then, suddenly, Cinders was sent flying back by a huge blast of pink energy. He flew by, fire still escaping from his mouth and finally struck the opposite wall painfully, slumping down it. On the opposite side of the battlefield Jynx was miraculously getting back up. She looked incredibly angry, lowering her two arms again after having used them to make the previous attack. Cinders was pushing himself back onto his feet using his two small arms, glowering at the red dressed ice pokémon. He stood straight with his head raised and mouth opened. A terrifying roar emitted from his giant maw, followed by a huge burst of fire into the air. Jynx followed this by forming a huge icicle and throwing it at him. Cinders lowered his head, saw it coming and released a huge fiery five pointed star in its path. The star struck the icicle and melted it into water droplets in seconds, leaving a pool of boiling water on the floor where it had been. Both pokémon glared at each other, trying to intimidate the other into submitting but neither did. Joe was watching in amazement. Cinders was making these attacks on his own. His burning anger for the opponent had been ignited in seconds like a small ember causing a forest fire.

"Cinders, don't…" Joe began. His words were drowned out by another angry roar from his pokémon. Cinders was furiously flaming now, fire from his tail growing twice as large and twice as bright. Without any warning he charged again, wings folded in and head lowered, fire encasing his entire body.

"Body Slam!" Lorelei commanded. Jynx rushed in as well, shoulder raised up to ram into him. The two of them collided at the edge of the battlefield and Jynx was knocked back solidly. It skidded across the room and hit its head on the wall, its eyes spinning. Cinders raised a glistening silver claw into the air. "Dodge it." Lorelei called. Painfully Jynx rolled aside as Cinders brought his claw down, striking the steel nails onto the plastic coated ground, digging it up slightly. A frost covered hand smacked him in the side of the face, knocking him back. Cinders rubbed his cheek and saw Jynx's arm extended, ice melting away from it as she pulled it back and raised the other one up. Another blast of psychic energy hit Cinders in the chest and knocked him further back. The flames around his body began to die down again as exhaustion began to take over. He panted heavily, puffing out a small whiff of smoke from his nostrils.

"Cinders, use Dragon Rage!" Joe called. Cinders lowered his head and glared at the ice/psychic pokémon in front of him. When he raised it again he bellowed out a long blast of purple and yellow dragon fire. The tickling, blazing flames crackled over Jynx's body as the attack hit it. A few seconds later she was trying to wipe the fire of her body with her small, dark coloured hands. In the end she resorted to freezing it away. When she was done her body was left covered in wide yet short icicle spears. "Good work!" Joe called out, encouragingly. "Now use steel Claw again!" Cinders pulled back a claw and slashed it across Jynx's face, causing a light silver haze in its path. Jynx's head was knocked aside and she spun around, her skin cracking like dry ice. When she looked back her black skin was covered in cracks, as if she had been wearing a mask. She growled through fat red lips and showed surprisingly sharp white teeth. She stepped back, raised her hands into the air and a couple of clouds began to form above her. Small icicles fell as the clouds grew larger and larger and the room got much cooler.

"Blizzard." Lorelei muttered to herself, proudly. She had trainer her pokémon well. "And Release!" She called, suddenly. Jynx did as she was told. A huge storm of ice spears rained down from the sky, aimed directly at the fiery dragon. Cindery looked up at the roof, seeing the ice falling from above. He released a flamethrower which melted some of the ice but wasn't enough to protect him from the attack. Huge lumps of ice and snow dropped from the sky like meteorites. They struck the ground around him and built up into huge mounds as they piled up on top of each other. Cinders looked around desperately only to find he was already encircled by a ring of snow and ice shards. He looked up, hearing a heavy whistling sound. A huge ball of ice, snow and sleet was sailing directly towards him, aimed by Jynx who was watching happily. Cinders released another flamethrower, again to no effect. The ball of ice struck him and formed a huge icicle, encasing him at the centre. Joe was again amazed. That was two of his pokémon now which had been taken out by that move. Lorelei was just smiling to herself. Jynx crossed its arms and blew another kiss at the now frozen charizard. It seemed to be her signature victory sign.

"G-g-g… God Damn!" Joe whispered. His shoulders drooped in mild defeat. Although the battle was not over yet it felt like it would be soon. Who the winner would be was still debatable. Lorelei was smiling at him, coldly.

"That's two down with one pokémon." She noted, flicking a few fingers, counting. "How many more do you have left?" She asked. Joe narrowed his eyes disapprovingly. Then he sighed.

"Still, at least he tried." Joe muttered sadly. "Good job Cinders. You deserve a rest." He reached for Cinders' pokéball and was about to withdraw him when suddenly the giant icicle twitched. It rocked slightly from side to side. Joe's hand froze in mid lift, his eyes widening in surprise. Ralph finally stopped moving about, his mind fully focused on the huge spear of frozen water which was currently beginning to sweat. Small cracks ran down it, dribbling with fast evaporating water. Inside the icicle Cinders was glowing like a torch. Smoke was visibly escaping from not just his mouth and nose but from his body itself. His fingers twitched, his eyelids fluttered, his jaw began to slip open, revealing his sharp dragon teeth. Lorelei's eyes widened in surprise. Jynx's face grew mirthlessly concerned, suddenly realising that she was no win very seriously deep trouble. The crowd, which had begun to wildly clap again, fell profoundly still. Everyone focused on the shivering, quavering, evaporating shard of ice. Cinders eyes suddenly snapped open… and the shard exploded. Pieces of ice and water sprayed out around the field, buffeting everyone in the room. The ice on the floor skipped the process of melting and simply evaporated into scolding hot steam. The room filled with severe heat, singing a few eyebrows. Joe covered his face with a sleeved hand. Where the ice spear had been a few seconds before was a now fully unfrozen and completely livid charizard, its wings outstretched, its head raised, its tail whipping, its claws prepped, its eyes blazing… and it was completely coated in fire. Jynx took a step back. So did Lorelei. So did Joe and Ralph. So did the crowd. In fact the only living thing in the room that wasn't stepping back in fear was Cinders himself. (If he could have seen himself he probably would have, too.) He lifted his head and roared the most ferocious and frightening roar he had ever done before. Jynx gulped. Ice beads slid down its skin like sweat. It raised its hands to attack and Cinders eyes suddenly shot to it. He growled fiercely, fire flickering for a second from his nostrils. His brow narrowed. His eyes pointed. And then there was light. It came from all around the large red dragon-like body at its epicentre. Jynx finally broke. It shrunk into a petrified ball, covering its cracked face in a desperate attempt to protect itself. Cinders flapped his wings and suddenly he was flying, speeding towards the opponent like a fiery bullet. There was a second of free space and then… 'WHAM!' Cinders struck Jynx straight in the stomach, fire encasing them both in seconds. What happened next was almost indescribable. All that can really be said is that Cinders released all of his attacks at the same time. After using Fly, Jynx was then hit by a fire blast which rammed it in the chest at full force, followed by a dragon rage which battered it and weakened it completely, lowering it onto its unstable knees. Its head drooped weekly forwards. It was barely conscious now. Heavy, frost bitten breaths pulled into its exhausted lungs through cut lips. It looked up feebly. Cinders was standing over it, pure fury blazing in his pyrotechnical eyes. He raised a claw which glistened silver with metal. Jynx's eyes widened. Cinders brought its claw down… and the battle was over. Jynx fell forward, defeated. Its face struck the solid ground and there was an ice like crack. Its mask had shattered. Small pieces of black ice skittered away across the ground. Calming down Cinders gave one final roar, stepped back and sat down, yawning exhausted and wrapping his tail around his waist. Lorelei looked amazed.

"…" She muttered, flummoxed. "Wha… W-what… What… What was that?" She finally asked. Joe, who was still wide-eyed in amazement, shrugged his shoulders.

"I… have no… idea." He whispered simply, stuttering over his words. "I… have never… seen that before." Cinders scratched his neck, tardily. He wasn't too sure why everyone was staring at him with open mouths. He spat a small ember of purple flame at the ground, causing the floor to corrode and melt away slightly. There was a long silence that followed. Then the announcer returned.

_"__Ladies and Gentlemen…"_ He began, speaking much quieter than before. _"I do believe we just witnessed a spectacular event in battle history. It was… it was… AMAZING!"_ The crowd exploded into furious cheers. There was clapping all around. Some people were clapping so hard that, after the battle, they were taken away with fractured wrists. _"Never before in all my years of commentating have I seen such a fiery display from such a young pokémon like that. Give a big round of applause for Cinders, truly the most spectacular charizard I have ever seen wield flame."_ It wasn't possible for the crowd to clap any more than they were. If they did they'd need a long tunnel and a megaphone attacked to each person's shoulder. Cinders spun slowly at the centre of the field. Calmly he bowed to them, feeling there extreme appreciation. Wordlessly Lorelei withdrew Jynx, leaving the small shards of black ice lying on the floor. She wasn't concerned about its mask. It would grow one back in a day or so. It was just lucky that no one had seen her real face. Jynxs had a habit of getting very finicky and embarrassed when someone saw their actual face. She clipped the pokéball back to her side. Only one pokémon left now. It wasn't looking good. Still, she felt she could trust this last one to take her opponent out. She had nearly done so with the last one, after all. Nearly. She gripped her last pokéball. At the same time Joe pulled his back out.

"Ok, Cinders. Very good job. Now have a rest." With a small click it opened and Cinders was, reluctantly, pulled back in. it clicked shut again. Joe put the ball back onto his belt. Now both trainers were to release their next pokémon.

_"__Lorelei is down to her last pokémon, Ladies and Gentlemen…"_ The announcer's voice echoed around the stadium. _"Can she pull this victory back? Let's find out!"_ Both pokémon threw their pokéballs. On Joe's side Pippy reappeared on the battlefield, still looking tired but also determined. On Lorelei's side a middle-aged, tall, female lapras materialized in front of her. It looked a lot like Sirena, except maybe older and a little less calm about everything. Actually she was a lot less calm about everything. Joe had never imagined that a creature like her could howl, but apparently they could. Lapras lowered its head, its erect neck shrinking back down again.

"Alright. Last pokémon left. This is going to be tricky." Lorelei muttered. She pointed a hand. "Lapras, Hydro Pump." Lapras extended its neck and fired a huge cannon of water from its mouth. Pippy rolled aside expecting to escape the attack only to be hit in the side and pushed back by the torrent of water. When it stopped he got weakly back to his feet.

"Thunderbolt!" Joe called. Pippy fired and the weak spark hit Lapras in the side, causing her to flinch mildly.

"Blizzard!" Lorelei called.

"Oh no, not again." Joe moaned as storm clouds formed overhead. Pippy looked up, concerned. A second later huge ice balls fell. Pippy tried to dodge out of the way but found himself encircled by a wall of sudden snow and frost. He sparked and some of the ice melted but not by much. A huge pellet of ice fell down and then it was over. Pippy was defeated. Joe withdrew him. Maybe it had been a bad idea to release him while he was so weak. But he still had at least three pokémon who could fight still. With a quick hand movement he withdrew his Pikachu and put the ball back to his side. He followed this up by releasing his fourth pokémon. Carter jumped out into the battlefield, flexing his legs and focusing his gaze on the large see creature in front of him. There was no time for a pause. He was so close to his first victory. The battle continued again. "Carter, Double Kick!" Joe called. Carter ran forwards and swung out with one foot aimed at Lapras' head.

"Hydro Pump!" Lorelei called. Lapras fired a heavy torrent directly into Carters face and pushed him back. His attack missed but he resisted Lapras' attempt to knock him away. When the water died away he tried again, this time leaping into the air and aiming with one power filled leg.

"Strike it under the shell!" Joe called. As he fell, Carter's foot struck the edge of Lapras' neck, knocking it painfully aside. Lapras glared at him and pushed itself back with its flippers.

"Body Slam!" Lorelei called. Than Lapras shot forwards suddenly, the floor under it covering oven in frozen ice. The ice propelled Lapras forward at unusual speed for such a cumbersome water beast. Its body crashed into Carter as he prepared himself for the impact. He was sent sliding across the ice for a few feet before he was able to stop himself. He skidded to a halt, using his three fingered hand to claw into and grip the slippery floor, slowing his movement gradually. When finally he stopped he stood watching the northern water creature which stared back. Lorelei's eyes grew fierce. Fire burned in her blood like alien acid. She pointed a finger again. "Sing!" She called. A warning signal sped through Joe's head. Lapras opened its mouth and a calm, serene melodious song played from it. It was a truly beautiful sound to hear. Like something that dead Vikings would have heard when the Valkyries came riding in and carried them away on horseback taking them to Valhalla. In fact you could imagine it being so. Both beings were from ice covered lands, after all. Carter seemed slightly entranced by the sound. His brain was trying to figure out what was going on. As Lapras sang small, multicoloured visible notes began to float out of its mouth, seemingly flying in a distorting wave towards Carter. His eyes began to droop. Joe realised he was going to have to act to stop what was coming next.

"Carter, stay awake!" He called. This was much easier said than done. Carter's eyes flickered and his movement became sluggish. He tried to bat the notes away but they fluttered around his arms. "Don't fall asleep. Fight against it!" Joe tried. Carter resorted to holding his eyes open and this seemed to work a little. Then he felt his legs sagging. His tall body slumped forwards slightly. His mind was beginning to shut down in preparation for severe hibernation. (A mental illness commonly associated with snorlaxs, male ursarings and very fat lazy human beings.) Joe then had an idea. It was a million-to-one chance but it might just work. "Carter, meditate, quickly!" He called. Carter stayed standing long enough to give him an unsure look. "Just do it!" Joe followed up. Carter calmly sat down and folded in his legs one over the other. He put his hands together in a praying position. His eyes closed but his head did not fall forwards. There was no snoring or sign that he had fallen asleep at all. Lapras stopped its song, looking proudly at the affect her attack had had. Even Lorelei seemed to believe it had worked.

"Good work, Lapras!" Lorelei complemented. "Now take it out with Body Slam!" Lapras lowered its head, pushed out its chest and sped forwards across the ice coated field. It shot along, getting faster and faster as it slid. It was only a few metres away now. Then, suddenly, Carter's eyes flashed open again. A second later he was high in the air, arms back and leg extended like an arrow head. Lapras crashed through where he had, hitting nothingness and looking around confused. At the last second it saw Carter shooting down towards it but by then it was already too late. Carter was speeding forwards like a brown rocket from the gods. Dark brown aura built up around his foot which was glowing dark with power. His eyes were narrowed to a vicious slit and hit other leg was curled up behind him. With no sound at all he landed, striking Lapras in the back. The large beast collapsed to the ground, its head hitting the ice. Its eyes were closed shut. Carter landed beside it, his arms folded calmly. There was a long silence… Then the crowd erupted in cheers. People howled and applauded in pure astonishment. Lorelei's mouth fell open and hung there for a full minute. Joe stifled the need to punch the air. He couldn't believe his luck. That was the first of the Elite Four taken down already and he'd only lost two pokémon. Maybe he stood a chance at getting far after all. The announcer's voice returned to the universe.

_"__And that' game over, Ladies and Gentlemen. Lorelei, the first member of the Elite Four has been defeated by our challenger."_ He boomed. His voice echoed around the dome like thunder. _"He shall now go on to battle the second member of the Elite Four. But first we give our thanks to Lorelei for the fantastic display she's given us. Her loss is not her disgrace."_ There was a short pause as the crowd cheered and clapped their approval. _"The challenger may leave the arena and prepare for the second battle. And now we offer you entertainment in the form of a spectacular dance involving ice while we prepare for the second battle. See you again in the next arena in an hour." _Then the speakers turned off. The crowd continued to applause. Lorelei's mouth had now closed and she was moving towards the centre of the arena, a slight smile on her face. She gestured for Joe to join her. He looked unsure but walked up to her anyway, withdrawing Carter as he walked. Ralph followed him calmly. When he arrived he glanced around cautiously.

"Very good job you did at beating me, I must say." She whispered cautiously into his ear. "You've got some real talent in you. It's clear you'll go a long way." Joe blushed.

"Thanks." He complemented. "But you did manage to do a real number on a lot of my team." She shrugged.

"That's not a problem to you, I imagine." Her face then turned serious. "But listen. There was a trainer who came in before you who had some amazing skill. He took me out in minutes. It's likely he's already fighting the champion as we speak." She winked at him. "I'd recommend using some caution from now on. Though I don't imagine you'll need it." She smiled surreptitiously. Joe looked a little taken aback.

"Uh, thanks." He said finally. Lorelei nodded and turned to face the wall behind her. In it a large red door was swinging open, revealing a long dark hallway on the other side. Somewhere down the hallway a small bench could be seen. Lorelei looked back to him and flicked her head towards the door.

"Now go on. Go face your next challenge." She smiled wider. Her hand extended. Joe shook it, kindly. Then he walked on, nodding to her as he did so. Ralph followed after him, giving Lorelei a suspicious glance. She smiled back, her ice cold teeth glistening in the frozen light. The two of them walked through the doorway and looked back. Lorelei had released a sixth pokémon now, a new small bird pokémon with red body feathers and downy white face feathers. A small bag was held in one hand. It was throwing presents up at the audience who were going wild trying to catch them. Lorelei made a small glance back at him and nodded, giving a small smile as well. Joe nodded back. Then the doors slowly slid back together and closed, sending the hallway into pitch-black darkness. It stayed that way for around an hour. Then, from behind him, light was coming. A second door was beginning to open at the other end of the hallway. He turned. His first challenge was over. His second challenge was about to begin. He stepped towards the light.


	37. Chapter 37: Elite Four Bruno

**This chapter may be a little long and tedious. To be honest I was struggling a lot to get the battle bits done as they can be quite boring and repetitive to write. Still, hope you guys enjoy some pretty cool fighting sequences.**

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As the large red doors into the first arena closed again Joe found himself standing at the end of the long dark corridor, the final piece of light disappearing as the doors clapped shut. He turned around, looking back into the much deeper darkness behind him. Then he took a step forwards. He strolled on into the darkness fearlessly. Ralph fluttered beside him, feeling a little exhausted already. This was amazing because he hadn't done any battling yet. A light flickered on in front of them. It was a simple and small but large radius yellow bulb which, when on, illuminated several feet of hallway. In this now illuminated if hallway a small bench could be seen against the left wall. It wasn't terribly long but long enough for a trainer and his pokémon to sit down on. On the opposite was a was a small table with a coffee machine and a small plate of multiple biscuits in packets and a sign above says 'Take One Only'. Upon further inspection it turns out that the coffee machine made more than coffee. It also makes tea, drinking chocolate, lattes, black coffee and a variety of other choices. Joe made himself a quick cup of tea, placing the small thermal cup into the machine and pulling it back out when it was done, took a packet of biscuits and sat down on the bench, sighing with relief and anticipation. Ralph squeezed up next to him, curling his wings around his body and flopping back against the painted wood back. They sat there for a few seconds, Joe sipping his drink now and then.

"I wonder how long they'll keep us here for." Joe mused aloud. Ralph shrugged in response. Joe flicked his head slightly. "It shouldn't be too long" He reasoned. "They'll probably just need to move the crowd into the next room and then they'll call us back in. Should take an hour if we're lucky." Ralph grunted in response. Joe turned to him. "Tell you what." He smiled. "We've done well to defeat one of the Elite Four already. We can take care of the rest. No Problem. He patted Ralph on the back who lurched forwards suddenly upon impact. He shifted in his seat. He wasn't finding it easy to rest on this kind of bench. Because he had tiny feet they kept falling through the holes. When he finally got his balance back he put a wing on Joe's shoulder, both in comfort and in balance. Joe chuckled slightly. Then he realised he'd forgotten something. "I'd better heal up the others, too." He realised, putting the half empty cup down on the floor and pulling out the four pokéballs of the four pokémon he had used. He reached deeper into his bag and grabbed a couple of hyper potions. He took one of the potions and carefully placed the nozzle into the small capsule. He pulled the trigger and the healing liquid squirted inside. He pulled the nozzle out again and did the same for the next one. Both Cinders and Carter had been restored to full health again. He looked at the other two pokéballs. Pippy and Pitt had both been knocked out in the last battle. A potion wouldn't be enough to get them able to fight again. He'd need to use revives for that. He only had a few of them, however and he wanted to save them for later, just in case it got really bad. There wasn't anything he could do for them. He'd just have to hope his four current pokémon would be strong enough to keep fighting till then. Ralph and Sirena on the other hand were fine. They hadn't done any battling yet and therefore didn't need any healing. Joe put the pokéballs back onto his belt and put the empty potions back in his back. He sat at the bench for a while longer, sipping his drink occasionally. He passed Ralph the biscuits after deciding he wasn't hungry and the large purple bat happily dug into them, and then proceeding to eat the rest on the plate. Joe had to pull him away before he ate them all.

An hour passed and still they sat in the hallway waiting. Then, finally, after what seemed like eons, the far end of the corridor lit up. Two large red doors at the end began to creak with hydraulics and a readying alarm sounded.

Joe sat up suddenly, having fallen asleep, shouting "Huh? What happened?" He looked over to the door. It began to swing open now and the crowd could be heard chattering on the other side. Quickly he got up, swiped away the crumbs that Ralph had left and walked forwards, into the light.

As Joe stepped through the light the second battle arena became visible to him. Shape-wise it was exactly the same as the previous one. The field was flat and simple like a normal battle pitch, except without the small pool of ice at the centre, the walls were tall and thick with a few dents in them and there was a tall glass dome above the arena, acting like a magnifying glass for the sunlight. The major difference was the colour of the arena. Instead of a cold ice blue the walls were deep brown and the floor was a slightly lighter coffee shade, light enough for the white outlines of the field to be seen. There were also a few boulders lying around the field but most of them were around the edges and they weren't terribly big. Joe stepped forwards. Suddenly the crowd stopped their chattering and began clapping again, welcoming him back onto the field. He resisted the urge to wave back. Ralph still seemed a little distracted by their presence. His ears rang with their claps. Together they slowly yet meaningfully walked towards their end of the pitch. The speakers ran with static for a second and then the announcer's voice returned to reality. His chirpy, upbeat and excited voice played around the dome like an explosion of happiness. His recognisable extreme pronunciation of the first letter in a sentence was recognisable all around, and the crowd feel silent instantly.

_"__Wwwwwwelcome back, Ladies and Gentlemen, to yet another battle against the Elite Four. If you remember well enough you will recall that our current challenger, the Ammmmmmazing and valiant trainer all the way from Pallet Town, Jjjjoseph D. A. Glllende, took on the first of the Elite Four, Lllorelei, not more than an hour ago and took a dramatic victory from her grasp, losing only two pokémon to her Ffffrreezing ice heart. Now he moves up and challenges the second member of the Kanto Elite Four."_ He paused for tension and maybe breath. The far doors opposite Joe began to swing open slowly, thick mist came out from inside. Instead of the icicle filled freezing mist that Lorelei had, this mist was almost completely black, like smoke. In the smoke the outline of a figure was slightly visible. It was clearly a man… a very muscular man. _"Ladies and Gentlemen, please put your hands together for the strongest man in all of Kanto."_ The announcer continued. The smoke from the doorway faded away. _"Give it up… For… Brrrrruno!"_ The crowd burst into applause. From the doorway a huge, muscular, towering man in only a pair of long, martial arts trousers and black wrist bands on each arm, jumped out, flying through the air with the form and grace of a jump kicking machamp and crashed heavily on both feet onto the opposite end of the field, where he then held his arms up, showing of his body. A long blue-black ponytail hell down his head and stopped at his neck, the rest of his hair was short and spiky. In the crowd several women fainted… so did several men. Bruno kissed one of his biceps and proceeded to wave up at the crowd. Several cries of affection went out. Bruno then clenched his arms in a position like the incredible hulk and roared.

"YYYYYEEEEEEEEAAAAAHHHH!" He yelled, ferociously. The cheering grew louder. He relaxed again and but his knuckles on his hips. "HOW'S EVERYONE DOING?!" He roared up at them. They roared back with multiple positive responses. He smiled and held out his palms. "Alright. Thank you, thank you." He faked a laughed. Slowly the cheering and clapping dropped to a stop. He gave a hearty laugh. "Really, it's so good to see so many of you here again to watch me and the fresh meat battle for a chance to take up the position of champion. I think I can recognise a few people in the audience who've been here before." He pointed up randomly at the audience. Several people burst out into squeaking cheers and claps as they were pointed to. "And as a token of respect for your loyal following I wish to present you with a spectacular battle which will stay with you for the rest of your puny lives!" The crowd burst into full on cheering again. Joe seemed a little stunned. It sounded like he'd insulted them but they didn't seem to care. They just loved the power of his voice. He turned to Joe suddenly. "You defeated Lorelei, then?" He asked, a smirking smile on his face. "Nice going." He then turned back to the crowd. "I also found out from an informant that this young man not only defeated Lorelei but also, merely a few days ago, stopped an attack the Team Rocket was making on Silph Co, risking his own life to do so." The crowd fell into stunned silence. Then they burst into appreciative cheering, whispering words like 'Is that true? Him? Wow?' and 'Guess he really is something special.' Joe blushed and covered his face with his hat. It was probably Winter who'd told them that. Maybe even Tom if he was done already.

"I-it was nothing." He whispered sheepishly. Bruno turned back around again, clapping slowly but not mockingly. He was genuinely quite amazed by what he had done.

"That takes some real courage to do, you know." He told him, his voice quieter so the audience couldn't hear him as well. This was his personal complement to him. "After doing something like that I expect to get a good challenge from you." Joe nodded, determinedly.

"Don't worry. You'll get it. He said. Bruno smiled. His voice returned to its usual boom now.

"You've beaten the first of the Elite Four, my sibling. But be warned. Most who challenge us don't get past me. I am the physical wall that holds the masses back in their droves. Only the truly skilled get further then me. My fighting pokémon and I have defeated many opponents in the past, no matter how skilled they were. So I suggest you make sure you're up for this. Be prepared to wipe the floor after we're done. There's going to be a lot of mess." Joe smiled to himself and reached for a pokéball.

"You… Are… On!" He said slowly, lifting the ball up in his hand and holding it out but not releasing it. Bruno smiled back.

"Good." He said, quieter. "That's what I like to see. Spirit!" He unclipped a pokéball from his belt and gripped it in his hand as well. There were several seconds of anticipating silence. The announcer returned again.

_"__Let the battle… Begin!"_ And battle began.

Both trainers released their pokéballs and two pokémon appeared on each side of the field. One was a long, stone, grumpy looking Onix; the other was a calm, aquatic, grey shelled marine mammal Lapras. Sirena pushed herself forwards with her fat flippers. Onix swung its tail around to defend and attack. Then the commands came.

"Onix, use Iron Tail!" Bruno called.

"Sirena, use Ice Beam." Joe called. Both pokémon made their attacks. Onix swung its now glistening silver tail out, aimed at Sirena's chest. She didn't have the speed or agility to dodge it so instead she let it some towards her, readying an ice beam. When it was about to hit she released, freezing the facing edge of Onix's tail and dulling its attack by quite a lot. Its tail struck her shell and knocked her aside with the force, but the ice on it stopped the steel power getting through. She skidded to a halt a few feet to the left and glared at the stone made snake which was staring back. Onix wordlessly brought its tail up into the air.

"Earthquake!" Bruno shouted. Onix brought its tail back down, slamming it on the solid plastic floor. The ground shook weakly. Small cracks appeared. In her corner Sirena was buffeted about by the ground under her. She was pushed up by the floor breaking open and large flat rocks bursting out of it. When the tremors finally stopped she was able to get her strength back, pushing herself of the now sinking again rock and acting like she was fine.

"Good." Joe encouraged. "Now get your own back with Surf!" Sirena smiled evilly. Underneath her water began to rise. A small pool of clear blue water was growing from under her belly, drawn out of the ground bellow her. Slowly she was rising up with it, forming an inescapable wall of water. It towered up and over the arena, causing everyone in the audience to gasp. Onix followed its path up above it.

"Quick, stop it." Bruno called. Onix threw a cluster of rocks at Sirena with its tail but the harmlessly bounced of her shell like they were simply dirt. Then the wave fell. It roared down as a wall and crashed over the battlefield, knocking Onix of its tail and even Bruno back a bit. When the water faded away Sirena slowly dropped back to her place on the field, watching smugly. Onix was unconscious. It didn't have the strength to withstand an attack like that. Bruno quietly withdrew it and the crowd cheered, though not as excitedly as they had before. Bruno put the pokéball back onto his belt and shrugged, harmlessly. "So you took out one of my pokémon. Big deal." He rolled his head. "Onix was just a set-up-er. Now I can use my real pokémon." He reached for a second pokéball and released it. On the field a battle-scarred, experienced, confident looking Hitmonchan appeared, throwing a few flashing punches at the air. Sirena rolled her eyes. It looked like a lot of Bruno's pokémon were going to be like that. Cocky and overconfident. She could take him on. She felt that she could.

_"__Well it looks like Bruno's usual tactic of using Onix to set up the battle has worked out for him."_ The announcer boomed suddenly. _"Let's see how the rest goes now that he's onto his second pokémon, Hitmonchan."_ The crowd cheered wildly. Joe pumped a hand down.

"Sirena, use Psychic!" Sirena closed her eyes and concentrated her mind on the opponent. When she opened them again a large sphere of pink psychic energy sped out, engulfing the entire field. Hitmonchan was knocked back by the force, taking a solid amount of damage but seemingly withstanding it.

"Thunderpunch!" Bruno commanded. The words seemingly rang through Joe's mind. Anything that he knew was a strong threat to KOing one of his pokémon did that to him. It was the way his mind reacted to it. He reacted instantly.

"Freeze its feet!" He cried. Sirena readied another ice beam and fired it, aiming at Hitmonchan's small legs. Hitmonchan was to fast however and dodged aside before the beam could hit it. And then it wasn't approaching anymore. It was there. A sparking boxing gloved fist lashed forwards and hit Sirena in the chest, causing her to flinch up with mild, split second paralysis. It then backed away and readied for its next attack.

"Good! Again!" Bruno bellowed. Hitmonchan pulled its fists back as they flickered with electricity. Then it attacked again.

"Strength!" Joe called. "Use Strength and knock it over!" As Hitmonchan got closer Sirena readied to attack. Then, when it was almost in front of her she suddenly rammed forwards, hitting it chest first and toppling it over as it swung its attack. Electric sparks scattered away as the attack faded and Hitmonchan's back struck the ground. "Now freeze it so it can't get back up." Joe continued. Sirena fired an ice beam, freezing the lower half of Hitmonchan's body solid as it was pushing itself back up. The punching pokémon looked in surprise at the ice mound covering its lower body. Then, with its one free hand, it began punching it away with weak but rapid punches. Quickly it was freeing itself again. Joe's eyes widened a little. He was losing the opportunity he had made, surprisingly fast. He knew it would break out eventually but he had hoped it wouldn't be this quick. "Quick, use psychic on it." He called. But by the time Sirena had made the attack it was already free again.

As she was about to release the attack Bruno called "Counter it!" Sirena released and the attack hit Hitmonchan square in the face. At the same time it swung out with a hand and struck Sirena under the shell. Both pokémon flinched from the attacks they had received. In unison they pushed back, getting away from one another so they couldn't be hurt any further. Sirena was panting heavily. It was clear she wouldn't be able to take much more of a beating. Hitmonchan however looked perfectly fine. It was currently limbering up in preparation to fight. Then Bruno made a final command. "Finish it with Thunderpunch!" Hitmonchan pulled a arm back. Sparks flew off from the large red glove. Then it rushed forwards, making fast time. Joe had to react instantly or else his pokémon would be defeated.

"Hold it back!" He called. Sirena panted and released a weak psychic. The attack hit but did not stop the oncoming fighting type. She tried again. Still Hitmonchan kept coming. She resorted to one last possibility. Taking a deep breath the fired a huge torrent of rapid water from her mouth and aimed it at Hitmonchan's chest. Finally this succeeded in doing the trick. Hitmonchan skidded to a jolting stop, pushing slowly against the heavy torrent. Sirena kept it up but only just. The more water she wasted the tougher it would be for her top keep the opponent back. As she kept firing it was becoming clear that her power was failing. Slowly Hitmonchan was pushing forwards, holding its fists up in front of it and deflecting the water of it. Sirena's eyes widened with fear and tiredness. How was it possible that it was still standing? It should have been knocked over ages ago. Slowly Hitmonchan trudged forwards against the current. Then, finally and disappointingly, Sirena's attack stopped. She had run out of strength to keep it up any longer. The water in her body had dried up. Her skin wrinkled slightly. She was completely exhausted. Hitmonchan's fist was still sparking. Its attack was still primed. Taking the open opportunity, it rushed forwards, arm pulled back. It didn't even give Sirena time to blink. In seconds it was in front of her and delivering the attack home. Sirena didn't stand a chance. Static bounced around her shell and body, absorbed from Hitmonchan's attack. She stood straight for a few seconds. Then she fell forwards, her head curling up on the floor and her body lying flat. Her eyes closed and she lay there, defeated and unconscious. Joe sighed and scratched his head. He expected Bruno to laugh at him. He seemed like that kind of person. But instead all he did was clap. He smiled kindly at Joe, taking him a little aback.

"Very good effort." He said honestly, clapping slowly. "Your pokémon put up a solid fight. You should be proud of it. It's just sad she wasn't strong enough to defeat Hitmonchan." Joe's expression was pleasantly surprised.

"Uh…" He stumbled. Then he decided it wasn't best for him to ask why he was being kind. He should just take the complement and leave t alone. "Thank you. Though to be honest she's still quite new to my team. She's done well so far for me and I felt she'd really shine here." Bruno nodded, confidently.

"Well she is. Just because she was defeated doesn't make her weak. Some trainers make that mistake, you know. They assume that because a pokémon lost to a strong trainer like me means they're bad. They're not. They're just not strong _enough_. It's good to see you know how to tell the difference." He then cracked his knuckles. "So out with your next pokémon then."

Joe gave a subconscious 'Hmm?' and then realised what he had said. "Oh, next pokémon, right." He withdrew Sirena from battle, thanked her and put the great ball back onto his belt. He then pulled out another pokéball and readied it in his hand. When he released it Carter appeared, stretching his legs and flexing casually. Bruno raised an eyebrow.

"Huh, a fighting type, too." He mused. "Hitmonlee, cousin to Hitmonchan. Interesting choice." He then rose out his arm and pointed at Carter. "Ice punch!" He called. Hitmonchan's prepped arm glistened with a sudden covering of thin ice. It ran forwards, its arm pulled back to attack.

"Carter, use double kick when it arrives." Joe instructed. Carter took up his stance. Hitmonchan continued its run. Then Carter lifted a leg and struck out. The kick hit Hitmonchan in the stomach, stopping it as it came in to attack and knocking it back. Carter pulled his leg back and lifter it higher in a second. The second kick hit Hitmonchan square in the flat jaw, knocking it back and over. It rolled onto its feet and set into a blocking stance, readied for whatever Carter's next attack was. "Mega Kick!" Joe called. Carter jumped and kicked out with a glowing white leg. The attack struck Hitmonchan's block and pushed it, sending it skidding on its heels back a few feet. Hitmonchan seemed to resist most of the damage, however. It unfurled its arms and readied them to attack again.

"Mega Punch!" Bruno called. Hitmonchan walloped Carter it the face, sending him skidding back across the field. When he came to a stop he rolled backwards, flipping over and landing back on his feet, seemingly unsaved. He readied into a kicking stance. Hitmonchan readied into a punching stance. It was like watching a martial arts movie.

'Alright, we need to do something to change the outcome.' Joe thought to himself. 'Both pokémon are fighting types so they won't have any moves that can defeat the other. So it's going to be a battle of bruit force and endurance.' He rubbed a finger against his chin. 'So what can I…' He stopped, realising something. He stood straight again. "Carter, use Hi Jump Kick. Make it lower its defence." Carter looked back and nodded. He knelt down and pushed, shooting himself into the air. He floated near the top of the dome for a few seconds then came speeding back down, one leg primed to strike. The heel struck Hitmonchan's raised arms and was blocked but the force was enough to stumble it and push it back slightly. "Now, sweep out its feet!" Joe called. Carter dropped to the ground, spun, and a few seconds later Hitmonchan fell forwards onto its face. Carter had kicked its legs out from under it, causing it to fall forwards. In a second he was back up onto his elastic feet, bringing one sharply down towards Hitmonchan's head. A second before it struck Hitmonchan rolled aside, causing Carter to kick the ground and really hurt his foot. He exclaimed in surprise and hopped back, holding his ankle with both hands. Hitmonchan took the advantage. With perfect precision it readied a fist, rolled onto its legs and struck Carter in the knee joint of his other leg. Carter buckled backwards, still holding his hurt leg, and struck the ground with a heavy thud. His eyes rolled for a few seconds. Then Hitmonchan was sitting on top of him. A punch came flying and hit him straight in the face. Carter recoiled. Another punch came. And another. And another. Soon the punches were coming so fast they were almost invisible, little more than a blur of red as Hitmonchan threw them like bullets from a minigun. Joe stood in worried amazement. This was turning into a fight that would be lucky to have one pokémon come back out conscious.

"Keep it pinned!" Bruno demanded.

"Kick it off!" Joe called. Carter was trying his best but he wasn't able to budge the quick striking fighter pokémon sitting on him. It was sitting on his lower body so there was no chance of him kicking it off. But perhaps he could… As Hitmonchan's next punches came flying it Carter slid his hands free, raised them and caught the gloves in his palms. Hitmonchan pushed against him, a low, angry growl escaping from its mouth. Carter tried to push him back with his much smaller but fingered hands. That was where Hitmonchan was unlucky. It didn't have fingers so it couldn't grab. And for a fighting type sometimes it was necessary to grab the opponent rather then punch or kick them. With a power fuelled grunt Carter pushed out, causing Hitmonchan to flail backwards but remain seated. That was all he needed to do with his hands. Now it was his legs time to shine. With unsurprising speed Carter's legs shut up and, like the elastic they were made of, bent backwards and wrapped around Hitmonchan's shoulders, grabbing it around the arms. Then he pulled his legs down, released and then there was no Hitmonchan. The punching pokémon was sent sailing up into the air like a bronzed projectile. It sped up and up and nearly touched the glass. Then it came sailing back down. Carter got up and followed its trajectory keenly, picking the right moment.

"What is he doing?" Bruno wondered aloud. Joe did not respond. He was too amazed by what he was seeing. Hitmonchan was starting to soar back down now. It had managed to shift itself into a fighting stance in mid air and was falling fist first back down towards Carter.

"Carter move out the way!" Joe called, worried that his pokémon would be hurt. But Carter didn't move. He stood there like a towering stone giant reanimated into fighting again. His eyes never left Hitmonchan. He was picking his right time to strike. Hitmonchan was only a few metres away now. It was so close. Its fist was glowing white with the power of a Mega Punch. Still Carter did not move. 5 metres. 4 Metres. 3. 2. Suddenly Carter's leg began to glow. His right foot was radiating bright red and small flames were becoming visible. Joe gasped in silent surprise. Even the audience seemed amazed at what they were seeing. Was it possible for a pure fighting type to learn a move like blaze kick? Sure enough what Carter was charging was the well sought after fire type fighting move, Blaze Kick. 1. Hitmonchan was about to hit. Its hand was glowing so bright it was like a fog light. Then, finally, Carter made a move. He spun around and swung his flame engulfed leg up as he turned back around, leaving behind it an arc of fire. The foot stretched, reached up, flew to the right… and hit. Hitmonchan, on its flight back down to earth and with its fist inches away from Carter's face, was struck in the side of the head by a flame engulfed heel. The image was frozen in time for several seconds. Everyone gasped and held their breath. Bruno's eyes were completely snapped open in true amazement. The two pokémon stayed in their impact position for several seconds. Then finally time came back. Hitmonchan shot to the right, flying across the field and smacking with full force into the far wall. When it fell back out it landed in a kneeling position, its head drooped onto its lap and its arms hanging at its side. The wall it had hit now had a Hitmonchan shaped hole in it, not too deep but clearly visible. Small cracks ran out from it and bits of stone dust fell away onto the limp body of the now defeated Hitmonchan. There was complete, pure, unadulterated silence. Even the sound of the fans and the heating system fell quiet for the scene to take effect in everyone's minds. The world stayed still for almost a minute. Then it was spoiled by the announcer's voice.

_"__Ladies and Gentlemen… I… I'm speechless. What we have just witnessed… is probably… one of the most… outstanding comebacks I have ever witnessed in all my years of commentating."_ He paused for breath. The audience did not clap just yet. They stayed quiet, still completely stunned by the true power they had witnessed. _"I… have no words to describe it. All I know is that… Hitmonchan… IS DEFEATED!" _The crowd suddenly burst into applause. They screamed their approval and slapped their palms so hard together that the guards were becoming concerned that some of them had begun self harming themselves. _"That's two of Bruno's pokémon already defeated. Only three more to go before he's out. However our challenger also has only three pokémon so who will snatch the victory is anyone's guess right now. Let the battle begin again!" _Then he disappeared again. Applause echoed around the arena like a thunder-strike. Bruno looked from the unconscious Hitmonchan, to Carter, then back to Joe. A small cheeky smile grew on his face.

"Wow!" He exclaimed, dramatically. "I… guess I underestimated the power your pokémon had." He withdrew Hitmonchan, putting its pokéball back with the others on his belt. The hole it had left in the wall stayed however. "I think it might take a while for the cleaners to get that dent out." He joked. Joe laughed quietly, covering his mouth so the audience couldn't see it. Though at the back of his mind he couldn't help but feel a little concerned for Hitmonchan's health. The last time Carter had used a move that powerful he had killed the recipient. Fortunately it looked like Hitmonchan was still breathing. Bruno pulled out a third pokémon from his belt and gripped it in his hand. "Now I think it's time to introduce my third pokémon." He called and threw the ball out onto the field. The figure that emerged was like looking in a mirror. Carter narrowed his eyebrows. Bruno's Hitmonlee glared back, stretching its legs in anticipation. The only thing that made it look any different to Carter was a long, thick scar running across its right eye and down the side of its head. Apart from that it was exactly the same, both in look and body and age. The two pokémon glowered at one another, seizing each other up and searching for possible weak points. Then Bruno made the first move. "Brick Break." Hitmonlee rushed forwards and threw a leg up into the air.

"Evade!" Joe called. Carter jumped back, narrowly avoiding the plummeting heel coming towards him. He landed simply and readied into a fighting stance.

"Hi Jump Kick!" Joe commanded. Carter sprang forwards, leg aimed out to hit Hitmonlee in the face.

"Foresight!" Bruno instructed. Hitmonlee focused on Carter's movement, its eyes narrowing like arrow points. Carter's leg was inches from its face. Then Hitmonlee fell backwards, narrowly dodging being hit. Its body flexed back, using its arms to keep it propped. Carter sailed just above, looking very surprised. "Now, strike it!" Hitmonlee spun around to face the ground, using its arms to move and swinging one leg sharp and up. The ball of the foot hit Carter in the side and knocked him away. Carter fell a few feet away, landing painfully and rolling over and over. When he finally stopped he pushed himself back up and ran in to attack again, this time readying a simple kick. Bruno's Hitmonlee also rushed forwards, swinging a leg up. Both kicks collided and blocked the other, leaving the two fighting pokémon stuck, trying to overpower the other. Finally Carter managed to push Hitmonlee's leg aside only for it to wrap around his like string. The two pokémon were now wrapped up together like a parcel, unable to separate from each other. Bruno and Joe seemed actually surprised by this turnout.

"How on earth have they managed that?" Joe muttered, confused. Ralph shrugged in response, looking just as baffled as Joe. Bruno punched his knuckles together.

"Come on! Get yourself out of that knot and take it out already!" He yelled. Hitmonlee grabbed its leg and tugged. The knot stayed strong. Carter also tried to pull himself free but to no success. The two hitmonlee stared at each other. Then Bruno's Hitmonlee struck Carter's leg, causing it to flinch and limp. Suddenly Carter fell back, free from the knot, and stumbled a few steps. Hitmonlee flexed its now free leg again, happily, and then looked back up at Carter. Without a second thought it rushed forwards, jumped and kicked Carter six times in the face with both legs before landing again. Carter rolled back out of range and recovered just in time to see Hitmonlee charging again, this time with a glowing white foot primed back and swinging around. He ducked just in time for the attack to pass over his head, hitting where his head would have been.

"Blaze Kick!" Joe called. Carter swung his foot forwards and struck Hitmonlee in the stomach with an ablaze leg in the stomach. He stumbled back, slightly winded but regaining focus quickly. Then small burn marks began to appear on its body. It scratched, irritably, trying to sooth the pains but to no avail. Bruno didn't seem annoyed by this. In fact he seemed quite relieved. He clenched a fist.

"Façade!" He called. Hitmonlee stopped focusing on its burns and ran in to attack again, this time ready to use its entire body as the weapon. Carter raised his arms up to block the attack, assuming that it wouldn't do too much damage. When he was flung backwards by the pure force of Hitmonlee's body he realised that he'd been wrong. He pushed himself back up only to be struck in the side of the head by a balled heel. He rolled aside and ducked under another kick, bringing a weak upper punch in on Hitmonlee's chin. Both fighting pokémon rumbled at the centre of the arena. Carter was getting tired but Hitmonlee's burns were also causing it some problems. And then the final blow came in. Hitmonlee ran back in to use another façade when Carter jumped over head and brought down a sailing kick. But Hitmonlee had been prepared for this. It brought a hand up and grabbed his leg as he came down, blocking his attack and throwing him of balance. He pulled Carter to the ground and swung him around by the feet, creating a deadly spinning circle of brown. Carter's eyes spun with dizziness. Then finally he was released, sent flying across the arena and rolling head over long elastic heels till finally he collapsed onto his back. Unable to stand but just barely conscious he stayed lying, looking up at the glass roof. A face much like his own came into view upside down. A foot much like his own soon followed. It raised dramatically into the air like the swing of an axe, sailed down, aimed in between his eyes and 'CRUNCH!' The kick hit Carter in the centre of the head, knocking him out instantly. Hitmonlee stepped back and folded its arms, scratching at its burned skin now and then. The crowd cheered wildly. Joe sighed annoyed and withdrew Carter from the field. He thanked him for his attempt and put the pokéball back with his other pokémon.

"Just the two pokémon left now." Joe muttered to himself. He reached for the next pokéball. He gripped it between his fingers, heroically. "I can still do this." He told himself, encouragingly. And he threw the pokéball. Cinders exploded out from it, bellowing fire and creating a heavy gust of wind from his wings. His head raised and smoke escaped from his nostrils. He was ready to fight again. Hitmonlee stayed arms crossed, completely un-intimidated.

"Was wondering if you'd have a starter pokémon on your team." Bruno said. "Charizard is a good choice. A solid pokémon. This should be an interesting battle." He tapped his knuckles again. Then he raised an arm up like the foundations of a tower. "Hitmonlee, Mega Kick!" He commanded. Hitmonlee rushed in to attack.

"Cinders, Fly!" Joe called. Cinders took off into the air, avoiding the incoming swing of Hitmonlee's foot. Its attacks seemed weaker then they had been. Its burns were clearly distracting it. It seemed to be struggling to keep going. One good hit may be enough to take it out. Cinders looped around in the air and sped back round to attack, diving in a cloak of fire towards the fighting pokémon opposing. His struck it with full force, toppling it over as the edge of his wing sliced across its chest. Hitmonlee hit the ground with a thud, sliding slightly back but managing to get back up again. It was holding its ribs now and Weezing weakly. It wasn't likely to withstand another attack. "Flamethrower!" Joe called. "Cinders flew back around and stopping in mid air before the fighter. Inhaling a lungful of air, he breathed out, releasing a hot plume of bright orange flame. It lapped around the field and charred Hitmonlee, engulfing it completely in the blaze. When the fire died away it was still standing. Its eyes stared off into space. Cinders flew closer. Small clouds of smoke billowed out of his nostrils. Very carefully he blew slightly on its face. Hitmonlee, creaked, rocked and fell backwards like a light fragile cardboard statue. When it hit the ground it shattered, lying unconscious and sprawled out where it hit. The crowd cheered again. Two defeats and down to two pokémon each. This was anyone's game now.

"Damn." Bruno muttered as he withdrew Hitmonlee from the battlefield. Joe's charizard was very strong to be able to take out his pokémon in one go. But he felt his next pokémon could take him out. "Still, two more left to go." He announced. Neither he nor Joe was in much of a mood to monologue. Joe was already exhausted and Bruno wasn't really into it all together. He proffered to shout sentences not whisper paragraphs. Fortunately the announcer was doing that for them.

_"__Down to two pokémon each now, folks."_ His voice rumbled over the arena dome and ricocheted down to the audience's ears._ "Both combatants still have a chance of winning. But who will last long enough to take the prize? Let's find out!" _Bruno reached for his forth pokéball.

"You haven't seen the full use of my power yet. The last three were just a warm-up." Bruno announced. Then he threw the pokéball. It sailed through the air, popped open and, out onto the field, a large, rocky snake creature appeared, swishing its tail. Joe raised a confused eyebrow.

"Hold on." He said, clearly befuddled. "I thought I knocked out your Onix. Why is it back in the battle?" To his surprise Bruno gave a hearty chuckle.

"Aha, I see where you've gone wrong." He laughed. "This isn't the same Onix. I have two. The first was just the one I use to set up. This Onix is my powerhouse. I call him Onix2" Joe and Ralph looked at each other.

"Why do you have two onixes? They're rock types, not fighting types." He told him. Bruno gave him an unworried expression.

"So? They learn fighting type moves. They have power. They can do damage. Why can't I have them? Because they're not fighting types? If that annoys you why didn't you point it out to Lorelei? Her Slowbro's not an Ice type. Why didn't you pick up on that?" Joe shrunk back, a little embarrassed.

"To be honest I never noticed." He admitted. Bruno rolled his shoulders.

"Still, never mind. On with the battle." He announced. He threw a hand. "Onix, Double Edge!" He roared. Onix2 sped forwards, ripping up the ground under it, its long stone horn pointed accurately. Cinders took into the air again, hovering low above the ground.

"Steel Claw it when it comes in!" Joe called. Cinders primed a glistening claw, preparing to slice it down Onix2's side. When Cinders perceived it to be before it, however, Onix2 was already steaming by, knocking Cinders back with the full power of its body force. Cinders spun a full burning circle in the air before landing painfully on his stomach. Onix2 meanwhile was still steaming ahead like a rampant train made of boulder segments. It reached the wall and turned a half circle, narrowly scrapping the stone with its hard body and heading back to attack, speeding up till it was reaching unrecognisable speeds. Cinders pushed himself back onto his fat legs and turned to see the charging Onix2 coming back. "Cinders, move! Fly!" Joe instructed, desperately.

"Get it before it can do so!" Bruno countered. "Speed up!" Onix2 gained speed. The ground behind it sparked now, the friction of its rock shell on the plastic floor not only creating a small trail or dents but also starting a few random fires. The arena was beginning to look like a warzone. Cinders was the fighter jet. Onix2 was the trench digger and anti aircraft gun. Cinders didn't take off into the air. He glared at the oncoming Onix2 as it sped up and readied to hit it again. His wings spread out like aeroplane wings. Light glistened from behind them and through the skin flap. Onix2 was right in front of him now. Then he gave a powerful flap, made a 'Thwump!' sound as the wings gust mad struck the ground, and Cinders was no longer there. He took off into the sky, avoiding Onix2's attack, leaving it to steam- train into the opposite wall. The ground shook as its head buried into the stone. The crowd in that area of the stand screamed and jumped out of their seats. Small pieces of rock dust and stone dropped onto Onix2's back it pushed itself back out of the wall, leaving a large, Onix shaped hole stuck deep inside it. The wall looked like it was ready to collapse at any minute, yet throughout the rest of the battle it stayed standing. Apparently an hour later or so it finally fell down but by then everyone had gone for lunch or moved on to the next battle. Onix2 glared at Cinders at the other side of the field.

"Very good, Cinders!" Joe complemented as the fire dragon swirled around in the air, leaving a plume of thin smoke behind him. He landed again on his side of the field and roared, protectively. Bruno growled.

"Alright, no more messing around! Onix!" He roared fiercely. "Dragonbreath!" Onix slid forwards, still moving quick but not terribly quickly, small purple flames lapping from its slit stone mouth and its horn lowered in a charge. Cinders readied his claws.

"Steel Claw!" Joe called. Cinders charged forwards, one claw pulled back and glistening silver. He reached the large stone snake and slashed his silvery claw across its body. The attack did some powerful damage to its body. At the same time Onix2 released its attack, hitting Cinders in the side with severe burning purple flames. Cinders slid aside after three seconds, no longer able to keep his attack or stand against the flame. As he moved Onix2 swung its tail around, knocking out Cinders feet from under him.

"Sandstorm!" Bruno called. Onix roared and released a cloud of dust into the air which became whipped up and expanded as the particles caught in a random gust of wind. Stone particles began falling all around them, moving like small flying razors and acting like sandpaper upon the skins of the pokémon. Cinders was buffeted by the sudden sandstorm as he tried to get back to his feet. It rocked him slightly and did a little damage but he got back up and stayed standing.

"Dragon Rage it!" Joe instructed. Cinders rushed forward and breathed a quick blast of purple and yellow fire on the opponent's side. Onix2 hardly seemed to notice, however. It whipped its tail up and brought Cinders with it, catching him between the legs and throwing him up into the air. He sailed upwards roaring like banshee and billowing flame and smoke in a futile attempt to slow down. His wings folded up behind him, useless. He flew up and above the sandstorm and then fell back down, desperately trying to flap. Onix kept its eyes following him all the way.

"Now, Rock throw!" Bruno called. Onix2 grabbed one of the arena rocks lying around and pulled it out of the ground. Joe clenched his hands together.

"Cinders look out!" He called. But Cinders was unable to move. The pressure of the air plus the damage we was taking from the storm was stopping his ability to fly and see. He billowed a full circle of fire in an attempt to clear his line of sight. It worked a little. When he looked out through the small hole of glass he had made he saw a huge boulder flying straight towards him. He had barely any time to react. The boulder smashed through the thin glass and hit him square in the chest. Cinders plummeted back down, the boulder sitting on his stomach and weighing him to the ground. He tried to burn it and claw it away with steel claw but it wouldn't even scratch. There was a few seconds of plummeting followed by a painful crashing sound as the charizard finally hit. He lay crushed underneath the boulders weight but miraculously somehow still conscious. He growled painfully and tried to push the large rock of his body. Then Onix2 came into view again. Small purple flames were escaping from its glowing mouth. Its rock eyebrows were narrowed down to evil triangles. Its tail tip was raised in the air like a rattlesnake.

"Finish it!" Bruno instructed. Onix slid closer and pulled back its head, readying to breathe dragon-like fire onto its opponent and defeat it. Cinders glared at the creature, annoyed. His lungs expanded as he breathed in. A small whiff of smoke flew out from his nostrils. Onix opened its mouth and was about to make its attack when something caught at the back of its throat. As its mouth opened Cinders exhaled, firing a small flame into the large rock snake's mouth and sending it down its neck, burning it inside. Onix2's eyes widened in surprise and alarm. It could feel its stomach expanding and contracting like a bellows. Its skin turned pail (If that was possible for a creature made of rock.) and it began to choke, as if it had swallowed something incredibly spicy. It rolled around, trying to extinguish the flame inside it. Now was Cinders chance. He put all his strength into moving the boulder, pushing against it with his hands and head so that he could be free again. Onix had its back to him now, smashing its head into the ground and trying to cure its pain. Finally, with one final shove Cinders was free. The boulder rolled slowly of his stomach and down the top of his flattened tail, rolling to the side and hitting the ground by him. He was free again. Weakly he pushed himself back up to his feet. He could feel his strength hanging on by a thread and his wings folded limply behind him. He wasn't going to be flying any time soon. He stumbled forwards, faintly, slowly getting closer and closer to the distracted Onix2. He snuck up behind it, breathed in a held his attack. Finally Onix2 turned back around again, only to see the charizard it had been about to defeat standing behind it still conscious and holding its breath and small flames escaping from its nose. Its expression turned to sad realisation. If it could speak t would have said something like 'Oh dear'. Cinders exhaled and a fiery star flew from his mouth, striking Onix2 in the chest and knocking it backwards. The huge stone snake skidded back and fell limp, its body falling over its tail and hitting the ground, looking up at the sky. The crowd cheered in surprise. They had all been convinced that Onix would take out Cinders but now it seems that he was just strong enough to fight back. Now Bruno only had the one pokémon left. Bruno let out a stress filled guttural growl and withdrew Onix2 from the battlefield. Cinders roared proudly, and then fell onto his knees and fell forwards, just holding himself up with his small arms. He began to breathe heavily, hit legs no longer able to take his weight and all his strength gone from him. Smoke drifted from the side of his mouth and through his nostrils, his eyes staring off into the ground, looking at nothing. He wasn't likely to be able to do anything to Bruno's last pokémon.

"Cinders stay strong. You can still do some damage. Can you stand?" Joe asked. Cinders shook his head, exhaustedly. Joe cursed under his breath. "Well if you can still hold it back with flamethrower you could at least do some damage. If you focus on that you can still win. Cinders nodded, felling a little more determined. He began pushing himself back up, managing to get onto one leg.

Suddenly the words "Low Kick!" echoed around the arena. A solid grey muscular leg struck Cinders leg and swept it out from under him. He hit the ground painfully and looked up. Standing above him was a tall, grey skinned, extremely muscular, four armed, frilled, beak mouthed Machamp, its top two arms punching together and showing of. It glared down at him, his lower arms now flexing in preparation to fight. "Throw it!" Bruno called. Before Cinders could do anything to protect himself he was grabbed by the tail by two of Machamp's arms and flung high into the air. The sandstorm had passed now but small specks of rock dust still floated about. Cinders spun around din the air, hardly even trying to save himself now. He was just too tired. His wings weren't going to open again anytime soon. He plummeted helplessly towards the ground, where Machamp was waiting for him. It pulled back a fist which glowed brown. Cinders came down and… Machamp's attack flew forwards, hitting him in the chest and sending him flying across the field. He struck the ground and lay there like a ragdoll. This time, however, he did not get back up. Joe sighed sadly and withdrew Cinders from the field. He glared at Bruno through squinted eyes. Bruno and Machamp were happily flexing their arms and showing off to the crowd who were cheering again.

_"__Down to one pokémon each, folks. This is still anyone's game. Can our challenger's final pokémon ever hope to take out Bruno's Machamp? The pokémon who's defeated a hundred foes single handed? Let's find out!"_ The announcer interrupted and the disappeared again. Joe clenched his hands. He wasn't going to lose just like that. He wasn't going to give up. He still had Ralph.

"Alright, Ralph, look like y…" But Ralph was already taking up position on the battle field. He stopped a few metres away from Joe and floated there. He swung up one wing and placed it across his face, trying to show off his power. Machamp turned and glared at him. Then it gave a hearty laugh and punched its fists together. Clearly it wasn't threatened by him at all.

"Cross chop!" Bruno commanded. Machamp rushed forwards.

"Steel wing!" Joe instructed. Ralph shot off into the air.

Both pokémon came in to attack. Machamp brought its sharp palms down in as X shape to hit Ralph but miss, finding that the large purple bat had dodge out of the way, flying around it. A steel coated wing stuck out and hit Machamp in the thigh, making it wince and grab out. Ralph flew off again, turning to see Machamp roaring at it, shaking its fists.

"Fly!" Joe called. Ralph shot high into the sky and flew back down, aimed for Machamp's chest.

"Rock Slide!" Bruno called. Machamp grabbed several boulders in all four of his hands and began throwing them up into the air, shattering them as he did so and leaving them to rain down around the field. Ralph saw them coming and tried to dodge, rolling to the right and slowing down so that they didn't hit him. One small rock successfully hit him in the wing. Suddenly he was falling, plummeting like a stone. His wings folded back and he gained speed. If he hit the ground he'd almost certainly be knocked out.

"Ralph look out!" Joe called. "Fly up!" Ralphs eyes flicked open again to see the ground ahead of him. With hardly any movement in between Ralph's wings were suddenly open again and he shot up, narrowly avoiding hitting ground and flying just above it, gliding at mach speed like a guided missile. His wings spread into an X shape and his eyes narrowed to angry slits. Machamp barely had time to reach. By the time it had raised an arm in defence Ralph had already struck, hitting it square in the chest and knocking it over. Machamp hit the floor, feeling dazed and surprised as Ralph kept flying, reaching the end of the arena and now making a full turn back to the battle.

"Get back up!" Bruno roared, furiously. "Take it out!" The fight was beginning to get more heated then a sauna. Machamp swept itself back onto its feet and readied four punches. Ralph was flying back in.

"Poison Fang!" Joe called. Ralph's fangs began glowing purple. He sped forwards, aiming for Machamp's shoulder which was the most likely easiest place for him to land the attack. He reached the opponent and Machamp swung its attacks. All four fists struck out glowing brown and all four fists missed. Ralph spun a complete circle around Machamp as he came in, dodging every attack the fighting pokémon could make. Machamp swung out a foot and Ralph managed to avoid it, shooting into the air. He dropped back down, scrapping his sharp fangs across Machamp's right shoulder. It flinched and reached back; soothing the wound he had left. Ralph sped off again, narrowly avoiding another cross chop. He turned and readied to fly back in. "Now use Fly again! Finish it off!" Joe called. Even though Machamp didn't look anywhere near ready to be taken down Joe felt that Ralph's attack would be strong enough to do so. Courageously Ralph flew back in for the kill, wings out and thin and eyes narrowed.

"DynamicPunch!" Bruno yelled. Machamp pulled back a glowing fist and aimed. Ralph was flying in a straight line. It picked its chance and threw the punch. The solid grey fist struck Ralph in the side, knocking his attack off and hitting him out of the air. He hit the ground with a light thud and lay there for a second. Joe winced. Ralph struggled back to the air when a large grey foot stood on his wing. He yelled in pain. Joe reached out a hand in fear.

"Ralph!" He yelled. Machamp was standing over the pinned crobat, glaring at him menacingly. The bite would he had left in its shoulders was going purple and small bubbles were floating out of it. It raised two arms, readying to cross chop him. The attack would likely knock him out. Joe knew he had to do something. He had to get Ralph back into the air. Then he thought up something. "Ralph!" He called. Ralph looked back at him. Machamp's cross chop readied to come down. "Screech!" Joe called. Ralph smiled evilly. He turned back. Machamp swung down its arms. They sailed through the air like a knife through warm butter. Ralph let out an ear piercing screech. It echoed around the entire arena, deafening everyone in the audience and even the people in the arena. Bruno covered his ears in pain. Machamp stopped its attack, desperately trying to clog up its ears and get the sound out of its head. As it did so it stumbled back, removing its foot from Ralph's wing. Now he was free again. Taking advantage Ralph pushed himself back up onto his wings, leapt across the floor and bit down on Machamp's ankle. The fighting pokémon yelled in pain and flicked its foot, Kicking Ralph up. That was the worst thing it could have done. As Ralph sailed up he opened his wings and sped off, taking back to the air with full grace and speed. He did a short loop-the-loop in the air above and then came crying down, the air around him roaring more fiercely then any animal or pokémon could ever hope to. Machamp threw another set of rocks but this time Ralph evaded each and every one of them. He came soaring in, aiming to strike Machamp's chest.

"Look out!" Bruno called. Too late. Machamp could only watch in horror as Ralph sped forward like an arrow head, wings out in an X shape. They were glowing purple now. Somehow he'd focused all his poison power into his wings. The crowd held their breath. Machamp raised its arms around it to protect itself. Then Ralph hit. His full body struck into Machamp's chest and the two pokémon sailed back. Machamp hit the ground with a painful thud, purple energy resonating from the area Ralph's wings had struck. Ralph however was still flying. He made a full turn, flew upside down and returned to Joe's side of the field, slowing down to a stop, turning the right way round and floating slowly above the ground in front of his trainer. Machamp did not get back up.

There was intense silence from the crowd. Then…

_"__Ladies and Gentlemen… Bruno… has been… Defeated!" _The crowd burst into mad cheers. Everyone applauded as the challenger… Joe… stood proudly beside his pokémon. They seemed to be clapping for Ralph as well. Not only did he look cool but he also was cool. They had never seen such an amazing performance from such a rare and not terribly outstanding pokémon. The chant of 'Ralph! Ralph! Ralph!' rang around the arena. Ralph blushed slightly, hiding his face from the audience. Joe smiled at him and patted his head proudly. Bruno seemed deflated. He withdrew Machamp and punched the floor in fury.

"How did you do that?" He demanded, pointing at Ralph. "How is he that strong?" Joe shrugged.

"He just is. I travel with him and train with him. He's just that powerful and he always has been." He explained. "It's not something that can really be explained." Bruno breathed out, seemingly calming down a little.

"Well you defeated me. Well done. You even did it quicker than the last guy did. He still one but he took his time doing so. Your pokémon just flattened me and rolled me aside." Joe raised an eyebrow.

'So Tom got this far.' He thought. 'I wander how far he did get. Is it possible he even defeated all the elite four and that somehow I didn't know? I would have thought someone would have told me if he did.' He looked back at Bruno. "Thanks." He said simply. Bruno gestured an honest hand.

_"__Now the challenger can move on and take on the third of the Elite Four. He's already half way through the challenge. Can he keep it up and reach number four? Let's see."_ The announcer boomed. _"But first we need another hour to set up the next arena. In the meantime our challenger can get some rest and you can all be entertained by a miraculous display of martial arts. See you in an hour's time."_ Then the speakers switched off. The crowd's cheers took up the major sound now. They kept applauding till they could applaud no more. On the other side of the arena a large red door was opening up. Bruno gestured to it.

"That's for you." He said simply, a cheeky smile growing on his face. "Now go take out the rest of my family." He laughed. Joe smiled and nodded. He walked over to the large red doors, Ralph following beside him. The crowd's cheers followed after him. He turned back to see Bruno and a strange fighting pokémon with a pointed head fighting… or at least showing of their fighting skills. The pokémon was spinning on its spiked head. Joe turned back around and walked in through the doorway, into another dark long hall. The doors shut behind him. Two members of the Elite Four down, two more to go.

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**Only two left**


	38. Chapter 38: Elite Four Agatha

**I feel that this chapter gets a little boring or badly written at some points. I apologist as I'm trying to get the main part of the story finished before the anniversary on the 15th. There will be a long prologue bat that will probably be after that date. Till then I hope you enjoy and that all the battles currently aren't to boring or tedious. **

* * *

As the large red doors slammed closed behind them Joe and the exhausted Ralph found them standing yet again in the pitch black. Having just entered the thin hallway between the two arenas they had currently just defeated the second member of the Elite Four, Bruno. Now they were waiting to be allowed in to fight the third member. Lights flickered on ahead of them, illumination another small area with a bench and refreshments table. On the table was another coffee machine and a bowl of packet biscuits. Joe walked up and took a seat, sighing with tiredness and lulling his head forwards in exhaustion. Ralph sat next to him, giving the exact same expression, making the exact same action. Bruno had been a real challenge to defeat. In fact they'd been lucky to defeat him at all. They nearly didn't. If his Machamp had successfully hit Ralph then they probably wouldn't be waiting to move on but rather back in the lobby, mopping about and planning to train more. Joe chuckled and turned his head to Ralph. He was laying wings spread out and back arched against the bench back. He was clearly trying to get some rest before they went out for the next battle.

"That was close." Joe said. Ralph mumbled in agreement. Joe smiled a little. "Tired?" He asked. Ralph shook his head. "Well you should have a rest. That machamp really did some damage. I think we got lucky in defeating it." Ralph nodded. Joe looked back at the floor. Then he sat up sharply. "I need to heal the others." He realised. He took off his bag and began rummaging through it for his revives. He found five of them lying near the bottom of the bag. The small diamond shaped medicinal packs fitted safely in his palm like gems. He took them one at a time and applied them to each of his pokémon's pokéballs. The small packets dissolved into them with ease and began giving his team energy to fight again. One it was done he put his pokéball belt back around his waist and sat down, closing his eyes. He and Ralph sat there for a few seconds, eyes closed before finally they both fell asleep.

They were awoken an hour later by a small siren, warning them that their third battle with the elite four was coming in a few minutes. Joe jolted awake sharply, looking around and quickly realising what was going on. He looked down the corridor to see that the empty black end was now lighting up. Two red doors were sliding slowly open and light from the arena was escaping through. He stood up. Ralph joined him, his ears aching from the sirens blaring. The door swung open completely and tapped against the walls, creating a light echoing 'Dink' sound on the metal. Joe and Ralph looked at each other and then stepped forwards, towards the light.

When their eyes regained proper sight they found themselves standing in another domed arena, almost exactly the same as the last. Again there were only two major differences. The first was the colour. Both the walls and floor was shaded an eerie purple grey colour which made them look non-existent. The second was there was a low, thin layer of fog floating over the field which added to the levels of creepy that the arena already portrayed. It reminded Joe of lavender town's pokémon tower. He winced. That was a location he didn't want to remember so quickly. The crowd had already been put into their seats and again they were now chatting with each other, the sound of conversation echoing like the hum of a great engine around the dome and into the arena itself. On the opposite side of the field to Joe a pair of purple doors was closed shut. They looked to be the same kind he had just walked through. The only major difference was the colour. All the others had been a deep red. But it wasn't that important. The announcer's voice suddenly blasted out around the ring, taking everyone by surprise. He sounded even more excited than the last two times, if that was even possible.

_"__Wwwwwwwwelcome back, Ladies and Gentlemen, to yet another battle against the Elite Four."_ He repeated. Joe could have sworn that all his dialogue was completely scripted. That or he was very repetitive and incredibly quick to make commentary. _"In the last battle our courageous challenger took on Bruno, the fighting type master, and won with just one pokémon still able to fight. Now he's had time to rest and heal up his team with whatever items he had and is ready to move on and take on the third member of the elite four. This is what we are here to witness today, ladies and gentlemen. Today we are here to watch our challenger either take a grand step forwards or three humble steps back. This is his battle with the third member of the Elite Four!_" The crowd burst into cheers. They called out both name and the names of his pokémon.

'Joe, Joe, Joe!' Some of them cheered. Others cheered 'Ralph, Ralph, Ralph!' Joe felt himself bow slightly. It was quite amazing the amount of admiration he was getting. The large purple doors ahead of him began to slide open. Thick black mist was billowing from the slowly growing gap.

"And now enters the second strongest member of the Elite Four. You all know her name, folks. You know her as 'The master of ghost types', 'The holder of nightmares' and 'The creepy old lady from next door'. Please give it up for… Agatha!" There was a round of vigorous applause. The large purple doors slid completely open now, dark black mist flowing out like heavily polluted water down a small babbling stream. But for almost a minute no one walked through. There was a quiet sound of something tapping the plastic floor which gradually drew closer and slightly louder. Then out of the mist, almost a minute after the announcement was made, a small, greying blonde haired old lady walked out, holding a wooden walking stick in her right hand. She seemed to be wearing a purple maids dress with a white fold on the front of the long skirt. She had possibly the creepiest stare anyone as old as her could have. It was bone chilling, sending shivers down the spines of anyone who saw it. She herself looked like some kind of undead ghost. Slowly she stepped towards her end of the battle field, using her walking stick to move, making a slow tapping noise which echoed lightly off the walls and glass. Then finally she stopped, looking straight at Joe. Her eyes seemed to pierce his soul with a strange kind of fear. It made his knees want to give in and his body collapse into a weak kneeling bow. She coughed, held up her free hand which didn't have the walking stick in it and began to speak.

"Welcome all to another battle with me, Agatha, the ghost type user of the Elite Four." There was no applause. Everyone in the audience seemed to be frozen by her stare and by her voice. It sounded hardly any different to any other old ladies voice, except maybe that it was slightly shriller, but it had an odd tone to it. It seemed to petrify people to their seats. It had an evil resonation in it, as though behind that sweat old lady shell there was something hideous waiting to break out. But of course all this just came from the way she looked and sounded. She was probably lovely underneath. She lowered her hand down. "I'm not one for saying much…" She continued. "So I'll get straight to the point. This young man wishes to challenge me. Few who do ever win. So I accept his challenge. His pokémon shall be pushed and his skill tested. I shall see if you are ready for the strongest of our order, and then you will leave. In which direction we will see. So, challenger, are you ready?" She asked suddenly. Joe gulped. Her looks and voice had managed to paralyse him to his spot. He nodded slowly.

"Uh… uh… yeah?" He said, weakly like a timid puppy. Agatha smiled. It looked like she was about cackle.

"Really? You don't sound to ready to me." She mocked. Joe shook himself awake again. His head fell down over his fringe, covering his eye slightly. He wiped it aside.

"Yes, I'm ready." He said, this time a lot more confidently. Agatha nodded.

"Good." She said. The creepy in her voice reverberated like the toll of death's bell. "The last thing I'd want is for you to not be ready and loose in one second flat. That's happened before, all right." She smiled larger, revealing horrible yellow teeth. She said nothing more. Instead it was the announcer who broke the silence.

_"__Trainers, ready your pokémon!"_ He called. Agatha unclipped a pokéball and held it in her cold, wrinkled hands. Joe reached for a pokéball and thought about who was best for this match. In the end he chose and pulled the ball out. There was a short silence of anticipation. Then the announcer broke it, starting the fight. _"Let the battle… begin!"_

Two pokéballs flew through the air. Agatha's ball sailed through the air and released a large, ghostly purple Gengar. Joe's pokéball sailed through the air and released the tall, lanky legged fighting pokémon, Carter. Agatha's eyebrows rose slightly.

"Hitmonlee?" She said. "Interesting choice." Joe had a valid reason for picking Carter. He knew his team didn't have much to fight ghost types with and, while Carter was a fighting type and most of his moves wouldn't hit a Gengar, he did have the one move which could. That was because Ghost types cannot be hit by Normal or fighting type moves. There was one attack move that Carter knew that wasn't a fighting or normal type move. Joe was hoping that his resistance to Ghost types would allow him to win and that that one move would make it easier for him to do so. Agatha pointed her hand out. "Shadow Punch." Gengar disappeared in a flash of shadow. Carter looked around confused, unsure where it had gone.

"Carter, concentrate!" Joe called. "Use Meditate!" Carter closed his eyes and sat down, folding his legs and opening his mind. For several seconds nothing happened. Then suddenly Gengar reappeared, jumping out of Carter's shadow and throwing a ghostly punch at him. Carter did not move or react. "Now, use Blaze Kick!" Joe called as Gengar reappeared. Carter suddenly spun around, fixing his body onto one foot and swinging the other one up, encased in fire. The attack hit Gengar in the chest and sent it rolling back before its attack could even land. The large ghost pokémon rolled backwards, hitting the ground and almost falling through it. It quickly got back up, however and prepared to fight again.

"Double Team!" Agatha commanded. Gengar stuck out its tongue and suddenly there were three of it… then five… then seven…then nine….then eleven. The number of gengars kept growing and growing, each of them sticking out its tongue, till finally there was a huge ring of them around the attacking Carter. They began to spin, moving like a ban saw over the plastic floor. Carter looked at each of them in turn, unable to figure out which was real. Then one of them jumped at him. The attack struck him in the side of the chest, causing him to flinch and step back where another gengar jumped out and hit him, this time in the spine, sending him stumbling forwards.

"Concentrate!" Joe instructed. Carter did so. He squinted his eyes and tried to focus on each of the gengars, trying to see which the real one was. Hopefully he wouldn't have to wait too long. "Ready a blaze kick!" Joe added. Carter's right foot ignited randomly. The audience held their breath. The Gengar lunged, throwing a shadow punch. Carter spun around, saw the cackling Gengar flying towards him and brought his foot up. The attack sailed up in a fiery arch and missed as Gengar vanished back into the shadows. The rotating images faded away in front of him. Carter kept his eyes open, preparing for it to jump out suddenly and attack.

"Sorry about Gengo." Agatha chuckled. Her supposed-to-be sweet elderly laugh created an aura of malicious cunning and positive evilness. "She tends to like being evasive. I'll imagine she's going to jump out of your shadow in a second." As if it was an instruction, Gengar suddenly jumped out of nowhere directly in front of Carter. Unfortunately for him, his original shadow was directly in front of him. (It was his original shadow because it was the one created by the sunlight shinning through the roof. The other five shadows were created by the stage light. Gengar did not jump out of them because they aren't exactly real shadows. Anyone who knows how stage lighting work knows that the use of multiple lights from each direction usually creates a large amount of fake, pale, light shadow. You can tell which ones they are because they're the ones that look like someone painted the floor a slightly darker shade.) "Ah, there she is." Agatha said in mock surprise. Gengar struck out with a punch and hit Carter in the face. He had no time to react. The punch hit him square in the centre of the nose and set him stumbling backwards again, rubbing the flat area of face just below the gap between his two eyes. His eyes crossed and he shook his head, regaining focus. Gengar had disappeared again. Currently it was lurking within the shadows of the stands. There were a few small screams as members of the audience were taken by surprise by its disturbingly creepy form of movement as it travelled around the stands. Joe spun around slowly, trying to see where the Gengar was going.

"Carter, keep an eye out, and ready a blaze kick." Joe whispered. Carter nodded. His foot ignited again and cocked, ready to strike. He squinted his eyes, trying to spot any tell tale detail that gave away where it was hiding. Then Gengar jumped out of the stands and flew through the air, a punch pulled back and glowing purple-grey, towards the prepared hitmonlee's back. Carter turned and saw it flying towards him. He swung his leg up to follow the movement. There was a small flame of arc and a whooshing sound. Then there was a 'Thwack!' and a figure flew backwards. It sailed back through the air, hit the ground and rolled for several metres before finally stopping, lying on its face. Gengar did not get back up. Carter couldn't believe his luck. His attack had worked. Not only had it worked, it had knocked the opponent out. The crowd began to clap. It wasn't as excited as the previous times but it was a clap all the same. The announcer reappeared like an annoying little child pestering for a sweet.

_"__That's one of Agatha's strongest pokémon down already, folks. Can she turn it around at the last minute? Only time will tell."_ Then he disappeared again. Joe had literally come to believe that there wasn't a man behind that microphone at all but that everything they were hearing was in fact pre-recorded somehow. Even though it would be impossible for a recording to know what was happening he really did think that that was the only way such a character could ever exist. He rolled his shoulders. This fight was going easily so far. Agatha silently withdrew Gengar from the field, not making a form of comment afterwards. She then proceeded to release her second pokémon.

"Go, Golbat!" She said, her voice a shouting whisper. A large purple skinned golbat flew out onto the field, flapping its wings frantically. Joe smiled to himself. He turned to Ralph.

"Looks like you're up." He smiled. Ralph smiled back, looking very excited. Joe held out Carter's pokéball. "Carter, return!" He called. Carter was quickly absorbed back into the ball by a flash of red laser. Ralph flew up and took place where Carter had been, flapping slowly and glaring intimidating at the opponent. Golbat gave the same glare back. Then Agatha began throwing commands out.

"Wing attack!" She instructed. Golbat flew forwards, wings outstretched and razor sharp.

"Ralph, Fly!" Joe called. Ralph shot high into the air and rocketed back down, wings folded back. Both bat pokémon shot towards each other in a diagonal angle. Then they hit. Golbat was sent spinning back, its attack hitting harmlessly and its wings crumpling against its side. Ralph kept on flying, shooting past the now stunned opponent and swirling around to come back for another attack. Golbat managed to regain the ability to fly and saw Ralph coming back.

"Dodge!" Agatha demanded. Golbat rolled aside in mid air, leading Ralph to miss by only an inch. His screaming form sped on and slowed as he realised he'd missed the target. He stopped in mid air and turned back around, waiting for a command.

"Poison Fang!" Joe called.

"Bite!" Agatha called. Both flying pokémon flew forwards, fangs bared to bite. Ralph was first to land his attack. He reached Golbat and threw his head at the creature, biting down hard on its wing. Golbat did the same, grabbing Ralph's front left wing. This resulted in the two of them spinning around in mid air as they tried to fly away and hang onto each other at the same time. Ralph's attack was seemingly doing very little to hurt Golbat. Golbat however was causing a lot of pain to Ralph. He winced and tried to pull his wing free but Golbat's jaws were too tight and its fangs were too sharp. Finally it let him go, leaving him to spin backwards as he tried to regain the ability to fly. Once he had managed to stop himself spinning he saw Golbat coming back in with a wing attack.

"Steel wing!" Joe called. Ralph growled and sped off again, bringing in a glowing silver wing to strike. Golbat opened its jaws to attack only to receive a mouthful of metallic wing which hit it straight in the joint. The attack was so powerful it knocked Golbat out of the sky, leaving it to plummet back to the ground like a stone. Ralph chuckled to himself. Although a steel type move shouldn't be effective on a poison type it had enough force to do enough damage. Golbat's wings unfurled and it floated like a leaf till it tapped the ground again, lying unconscious on its back. Agatha withdrew it. Again she made no comment but instead reached for another pokéball. Instead the announcer made the comments for her.

"That's two of Agatha's pokémon down already, folks. What is she planning, if she's indeed planning anything? There must be some strategy to letting two pokémon faint. What it is we shall see in due course." Then he evaporated again. Agatha unclipped a pokéball. Then she spoke out for the first time since she'd entered the ring.

"You think you are strong because you took out my two weakest pokémon?" She asked. Her voice was the same evil tone from her commands except this time it was directed like a beam at Joe. He shuddered slightly. The room suddenly felt colder. She shook her head. "Ha. Such an arrogant assumption. A strategy I have, yes. And trust me from now on it won't be that easy to win. I'll make you work for your victory." Then she released the pokéball. It burst open and out of the pokéball jumped another gengar. This one looked much stronger, however. Its skin was slightly darker, its eyes were keener and it was slightly taller than the previous one. As well as this there was black fire sparking around it as it appeared. That black fire quickly disappeared back into Gengar's shadows. Agatha put both hands on her walking stick and leaned against it. "Shadow Ball!" She commanded. The new Gengar jumped forwards into the air, grey and purple energy forming between its small hands.

"Ralph, look out!" Joe called. Ralph rolled aside just in time as a large sphere of ghostly energy flew past his head, travelling through where he had been and continuing on till finally it evaporated and sprinkled energy over a far wall. Ralph looked back to see that the new gengar was cackling manically, its tongue lolloping on its bottom jaw and suddenly jutted out randomly like a chameleon. Its evil eyes focused on Ralph up above. Ralph glared down at it, feeling a narrowing urge to grab its tongue with his teeth and rip it out. Even if he did do that he probably wouldn't succeed. The tongue probably wasn't real and it would likely disappear if he tried to bite it. Instead he focused his annoyance into his wings, which was where most of his attacks came from. Then Joe called a command. "Fly!" He yelled. Ralph smiled. While Gengar may own the shadows, the air was his territory. He soared higher up into the air. Then he dived, nose forwards and wings folded. Gengar readied itself for the hit. It wanted to use its favourite attack but Ralph's eyes were currently closed.

"Sludge Bomb!" Agatha instructed. Gengar's mouth filled with purple goo and, making a horrific gagging sound, it spat the nasty sticky substance out in the form of a huge purple ball. The ball flew through the air and fell down, directly aimed at Ralph's trajectory path. He saw it coming and rolled aside, skimming above the ground like a flat stone skimming over water. The ball landed right next to him, hitting where he would have been. Unexpectedly, however when the ball hit it didn't just burst. It exploded. Bits of purple gloop flew around the arena, showering it with the likely toxic substance. Ralph got a few bits hitting him in the back and felt wing. They stung slightly but didn't debilitate his ability to fly. He kept on flying like an arrowhead and eventually struck his target. Gengar was knocked completely over purely from the force of the attack. Ralph flew back up high into the air and stopped, shaking himself quickly to get the bits of sludge of his back. When he felt he was free again he looked back down into the arena. Gengar was back onto its tiny feet again, shaking an angry arm up at him. Ralph laughed. This was fun. Playing tag with a ghost type was surprisingly entertaining, especially when he was the tagger.

"Screech!" Joe called. There was an ear-splitting scream sound which echoed around the arena. The audience covered their ears. Joe covered his ears. Gengar covered its ears. Agatha didn't move. Then it fell silent again, but the sound of the screech echoed in everyone's ears, deafening them. Joe looked back up at Ralph who was still waiting for his next command. "Good job." Joe called up, speaking a little louder then he normally would because his ears were deafened right now. "Now, strike it while it's unaware!" He added. "Ralph nodded and dived. His show forwards, wings outstretched and flying above the ground like a purple jet. Gengar had its back to him. He was twenty metres away from his target. He flew closer. Fifteen metres. Still Gengar had its back to him. Then Agatha's aged yet sinister voice called out from around the field.

"Hypnosis." She said. Gengar turned around. Its face was giving a horribly knowing grin which sent shivered down a dozen spines. Its body seemed to inflate like a balloon. But its eyes… Its eyes… Ralph began to feel drowsy. He was still flying in for the attack but he couldn't tare himself away. He could hardly move. Gengar smiled a wide Cheshire cat smile at its now caught opponent. Its eyes were glowing purple pink and faint pink rings were floating out of them. Those same rings were now hitting Ralph in his own eyes, lulling him asleep. Ralph's eyes began to droop. Joe suddenly realised just how much trouble he was in.

"No Ralph! Don't look! Close your eyes!" He called. But by then it was already too late. Ralph couldn't think. He couldn't move. He couldn't willingly shut his eyes. All he could do was fly onwards, his gaze fixated upon Gengar. Then, suddenly, he dropped, hitting the ground and sliding along, finally stopping at Gengar's feet. He didn't budge. He didn't wake up. Slowly a quiet snoring sound became audible from under the unconscious purple mass. Joe sighed sadly, his arms drooping at his side. "Ralph?" He asked weakly. Ralph did not respond. Instead he slept away, his face buried in the floor. Gengar was smiling, malicious ideas creeping into its head. Agatha also gave a small creepy smile.

"Now, Gengar…" She announced. Disturbingly creepy knowing was vibrating in her words. Gengar looked back at her, waiting for more commands. Her smile grew to her ears now. Her eyebrows fell, turning her eyes into sinister triangles. "Send our little friend into a nightmare." She told it, speaking subtly yet at the same time having no subtlety in her words at all. Gengar smiled and nodded, turning back around to face Ralph. It rose up its hands, cackling madly. Ralph began to shudder and shake as Gengar invaded his mind. His wings rustled and flailed as his body tried to fight back but his mind was already trapped by Gengar's power.

"NO!" Joe exclaimed. There was nothing he could do to stop the horrible ghostly creature. Finally, after several seconds, it lowered its arms again and stood still smiling down at the tormented crobat. Ralph was still shivering, unable to wake up and almost hidden in the low fog. The nightmare that Gengar had sent him into wouldn't allow it. Gengar took a step back. Nonchalantly it began waving at the crowd around it. There was a short silence followed by the blaring of clapping cheers and appreciative whistles. Gengar bathed in it like rain from heaven. Joe felt defeated. It had defeated his strongest pokémon in one swift movement. Quickly he ran over and scooped up the unconscious crobat in his arms. Ralph was shivering with cold and fear. He tossed and turned, lashing out with his wings and nearly hitting Joe in the face. "Damn thing." He muttered. He glared out of the corner of his eyes at the showing off Gengar. A small growl escaped from his mouth. "Somehow I've got to knock it out." He decided in his head. "It's the only way to free Ralph from its grasp." He sighed. "But how do I do that. It's clearly very good at enduring and it packs a lot of power. Plus it's likely to use that hypnosis move again and knock out my other pokémon. It'll take them out one by one and put them in the same situation as Ralph." Slowly he walked back to his end of the battlefield and laid Ralph down a foot away from him, making sure he was comfortable before continuing with the battle.

_"__Oohh. So now Agatha's ace card is revealed! Her second Gengar and its Hypnosis/Nightmare tactic have defeated hundreds of foes with ease. Can our challenger hope to defeat her now? We shall see, Ladies and Gentlemen. We shall see."_ The announcer popped in for a quick announcement before disappearing again through the proverbial exit into non-existence. Joe looked back around and, to his actual surprise, he saw Agatha withdrawing Gengar from the field. He raised an eyebrow. Why was she doing that? He looked back down at Ralph. Sadly he was still lying asleep on the floor, still shaking from the nightmare he was having. So withdrawing Gengar wouldn't remove its attack. He realised. He turned and sighed sadly. It looked like he'd have to knock it out completely when it comes back into play. Till then he'd have to defeat whatever pokémon Agatha sent out next. She put Gengar's pokéball back onto her belt and readied a forth pokéball. Wordlessly she threw it and it opened, releasing a long, purple Arbok onto the field. Joe reached for his own pokéball and readied it. If she was going to play with poison he might as well great it with his own form. He gripped the pokéball and threw it like a baseball bowler. The ball sailed forwards and opened, releasing the massive attacking form of Pitt onto the field. He growled menacingly at Arbok and whipped a few vines. He stomped his front legs heavily on the ground. Arbok shook its tail tip in the air, intimidating. Agatha pointed a finger.

"Bite!" She commanded. Arbok slithered forwards with surprising speed and agility, its tail lashing behind it like a whip.

"Tackle it!" Joe instructed. Pitt ran slowly forwards, head lowered. Arbok reared back and lunged, fangs bared. At the same time it left itself open to be hit in the stomach. Its strong snake jaw bit down on Pitt's shoulder, causing him to flinch. He kept running, however, ramming his bulky shoulder into Arbok's gun, knocking it back and over onto its head. Pitt sat on top of it, pinning it to the ground. Arbok hissed and lunged a few times; trying to bite Pitts neck but he dodged his head aside with quick movements. He then brought his head down, striking Arbok on the nose with his flat forehead and stunning it. The large snake's eyes rolled painfully, its brain befuddled from the impact. Pitt stepped back of it, leaving the snake trying to recover on the floor. "Good work." Joe complemented. Pitt smiled and looked back. "Now earthquake it while it's down!" He continued. Pitt rose up on his back feet and fell forwards, landing heavily on his front feet. The ground rippled and shook, sending large cracks across the field and shooting spikes of earth up out of it. Arbok shook about, taking some amazing damage and somehow surviving. When the quaking stopped it rolled back onto its front and reared up again, spreading the skin at the back of its head and showing of two intimidating large eyes. The fake eyes glared down at Pitt. His knees began to knock slightly but he didn't back away. "Stay strong, Pitt." Joe hissed, confidently. Agatha made another command.

"Sludge Bomb!" She called. Arbok's mouth swelled with poison and it spat out a large ball of toxic sludge. The sludge flew forwards and hit Pitt on the face. Then it exploded. Lumps of purple goo flew everywhere, covering everything for thirty square metres. Pitt stepped backwards, taking slow damage from the sludge already touching him. He yelled slightly as the burning toxic sensation from the gloop tickled his skin and dissolved it at the same time. He shook his head, trying to get it off. A few small clumps flew away onto the misted floor. Pitt began to growl angrily at the reared up snake before him. Arbok hissed back. Now it was a battle of who could make the most intimidating sound. "Bite!" Agatha commanded. Arbok lunged, fangs bared.

"Protect!" Joe called. Pitt concentrated. A small green force field grew around him suddenly, appearing seconds before Arbok's attack hit. Its head struck the almost invisible barrier and bounced back, taking a surprising amount of recoil damage. Arbok made no sound as it reared up straight like a stick. It didn't even screech in pain. Not even a hiss escaped its gaping mouth. It simply fell quietly backwards, straight as a pole, till finally it hit the flat ground with a light thud. It lay there, its eyes staring into its own head, its jaw lulled open and its tail wriggling with the last attempt to grab at consciousness. Then it fell still. There was sudden applause from the audience. They cheered and whooped and clapped as Pitt's protect faded away and he sat down, resting from the fight for a second. Agatha withdrew Arbok from the field. The crowd grew louder as chanting started up again. They were cheering for Joe. They were cheering for his team. They were cheering for him. Graciously, Joe gave a small bow. A few young women fainted in the audience. The announcer popped back into existence.

_"__That's three of Agatha's pokémon down, but she still has her strongest pokémon left. This could still go either way. Let's see was happens folks." _And he promptly disappeared again in a blurt of feedback. Pitt stomped a foot in anticipation.

"Alright, Pitt." Joe called, encouragingly. No matter what she brings out next just do your best. She's still got Gengar so look out for that. Stay focused and you can do this." Pitt nodded back at him. He turned back and a shadow ball hit him in the face. He recoiled backwards as Gengar stuck its tongue out at him. While Joe had been giving his encouraging speech Agatha had released her strongest pokémon out again. Pitt looked back at the annoying ghost type. A small angry growl escaped from his mouth.

"Again!" Agatha called. Gengar fired another shadow ball. The sphere of ghost energy struck Pitt in the head and he stumbled back, suffering some mild damage. His growl grew larger. Without command he reared up and fell forwards, creating another earthquake. The ground shook and ripped open. Several small fissures open up. The field cracked and began to fall apart. Gengar however didn't move an inch. In fact it hardly noticed the ground moving bellow it. It wasn't even standing on the ground. It was standing with its feet slightly in it. For some reason ground type moves weren't hitting it. It cackled madly as it hovered above the floor. Pitt gasped and took a step back. How had his attack not worked? Gengar smiled evilly. "Hypnosis!" Agatha called. Gengar's eyes lit up and Pitt collapsed to the floor. His eyes were shut and he was snoring soundly. Joe stood worried and open mouthed looking down at his unconscious pokémon. He reached for Pitt's pokéball and withdrew him before Gengar could use its nightmare attack again. He then put Pitt's pokéball back onto his belt. That was two of his pokémon out now because of that thing. Gengar looked disappointed. Agatha tapped her walking stick and Gengar ran back to her side, waiting for her next instructions. Joe thought for a second, considering who he should send out next. Eventually she chose and released his next pokémon. Onto the field Sirena appeared, giving a small melodic song upon arrival.

"Alright, Sirena, use Psychic." Sirena nodded, readied her attack… and fell asleep. Her head lulled forwards and hey eyes slammed shut. "Wha…?" Joe started, confused. He turned and saw Gengar back on the field, its glowing eyes fading back to normal. It cackled happily and jumped back to stand next to Agatha. Joe looked from his unconscious pokémon to Gengar, then back to Sirena who was snoring peacefully. "Do you think you could give my pokémon a chance to fight before you knock them out?" He asked, sounding a little annoyed. Agatha's head tilted a little to the right. It was neither a nod nor a shake. She looked at Joe from the corner of her eyes.

"No." She said, coldly. Gengar stuck its tongue out again. "Sorry, but I'm not going easy, not for a second." She tapped her stick again and Gengar jumped back into the battlefield. Joe withdrew Sirena, feeling that her time in the battle had been way too short. The he released another of his pokémon. Carter returned to the field. He flicked his legs out, stretching them, readying to battle again.

"Alright, Carter. When Gengar uses hypnosis you need to shut your eyes. If you don't then you'll be out of the battle like that." Joe explained before letting him fight. "Do you understand?" He asked, finally. Carter understood. He nodded to let his trainer know so. Joe smiled. "Ok." He pointed a finger. "Now, Blaze Kick!" He called. Carter's feet ignited as he readied two blaze kicks. He ran forward, leaving a small trail of fire in his wake.

"Hypnosis!" Agatha instructed. Gengar used the move and Carter slammed his eyes shut.

"Yes!" Joe shouted in encouragement. "Now land the attack!" Carter nodded. He remembered where Gengar had been and jumped, lunging forwards with his attack. When he hit the ground with a painful thud he opened his eyes again. Gengar wasn't there. It had moved aside as his attack came in. It had seen that Carter avoided its sleep attack and instead had stepped aside, allowing him to sail past and hit the ground. Carter stood up again and turned, only to be hit in the chest by an exploding bomb of sludge. The force of the attack knocked him over again. He got up again and was hit by another attack, this time a shadow ball. Finally Carter didn't get back up. His eyes were spinning from loss of fatigue. He sat up and saw that Gengar was standing in front of him. It smiled down at him evilly.

"Finish him." Agatha muttered in a whisper that was just audible from the other end of the room. Gengar chuckled, menacingly. Then it reached out and grabbed Carter by the side of the head. If Carter had had ears Gengar would have grabbed them instead. It pulled its huge, ghostly head back and then it brought it forwards. Its tough fat head butted Carter in the face and the fighting pokémon fell backwards, cross-eyed. He did not move after that. The crowd burst into more cheers again.

_"__Wow. What a comeback, folks. Gengar has managed to take out four of our challenges pokémon consecutively. Now it' and it's still open for either of them to win. But can our challenger pull back from this sudden change in direction? We shall see."_ The announcer… oh you get the idea! He jumped in to say something after several minutes of silence and then went back to saying nothing again. It's such a boring job describing everything he does because there's only so many times you can use the words 'disappeared' to describe a voice before it becomes repetitive. The writer wondered how he'd ended up telling this story at all. He reconsidered his life choices. Joe stamped a foot in annoyance. That was three of his pokémon that Gengar had just taken out. It had hardly left them a second to recover.

"God… Damn… Ghost… Pest!" He muttered in annoyance. "I've come too far to be defeated by you. Way too far! How can I take you down without losing all my pokémon at the same time?" He pondered the possibilities for a second. There wasn't really any obvious one right now. But maybe he'd be able to distract it, or at least stop it from using its hypnosis attack again. He looked back down at Ralph. He was shaking harshly now. Cold sweat was pouring down his face. He lashed out with a wing and tapped Joe's foot. Joe looked sad. "Hang on, bud." He muttered, real sadness in his voice. He looked back at the field and saw Carter still lying where he was. "Can you get up?" Joe asked. Carter responded with a painful grown. Joe sighed. "That's a no then." He raised Carter's pokéball and withdrew him. Carter disappeared in a flash of red light. Joe put his pokéball back to his side. Then he reached for one of the two pokéballs with still conscious pokémon left in it. He unclipped it and threw it. "Go Cinders!" He yelled. The ball opened and the flaming charizard burst out, roaring fire.

"Shadow Ball!" Agatha instructed simply. Gengar fired a small ball of shadow energy. Cinders hardly had time to realise what was going on before the attack was thrown at him. He dodged aside, avoiding the flying sphere and flew it, breathing purple fire. The dragon rage hit Gengar in the face and knocked it over, causing its arms to flail and its body to rock on its small feet. When it finally got its stability back it stuck its tongue out, defiantly. Cinders flew back past, glaring.

"Fire Blast!" Joe instructed. Cinders sent a burning star of fire in Gengars direction. The ghostly shadow pokémon jumped, fell back to the ground and disappeared into its own shadow. The attack flew harmlessly past where it had been. Cinders spun his head around, trying to find where the annoying spectre had gone. Then there was a whistling cackling sound coming from above. It was slowly getting closer and louder. Cinders looked up. Gengar was falling towards him from above, head first and mouth spewing purple sludge. "Look out" Cinders stepped aside and Gengar hit the floor, falling straight through it and on into shadowed nothingness. The sludge it had been discharging from its mouth fell around in droplets on Cinder's head and back and wings. It stung like acid. He looked on, a small growl escaping his clamped jaws. He wasn't very happy about it. He looked down and Gengar reappeared. It jumped out of his shadow, reached his face, punched his nose and faded back into nothingness, reappearing a few metres away out of the wall. Cinders growling grew louder, suddenly becoming a defiling roar. Fire and smoke flayed at the edge of his sharp toothed mouth. A plume of orange flame erupted from down his throat and out into the air. Gengar seemed to chuckle to itself. What it found so funny would be up to interpretation.

"Shadow Ball!" Agatha commanded again. Gengar jumped forwards and threw the shadow ball with one hand. It flew through the air and hit Cinders in the chest, knocking him back slightly. He continued to growl and flexed his fingers.

"Steel Claw!" Joe commanded. Cinders took to the air and flew forwards, glistening silver claw pulled back. He readied to attack, came in and…

"Hypnosis!" The dreaded words echoed within itself, creating an ongoing continuous resonation of dread. Joe flinched, knowing what was coming next.

He went to yell "Don't look" but he knew it was already too late. Cinders began to slow, his body growing limper. Yet still he kept moving, pressing the attack. In fact he was standing right in front of Gengar now. The annoying ghost was standing right in front of him, eyes glowing pink. Cinders weakly pulled its claw back and, just before falling unconscious swung out. The steel tipped nails dug through the air and slashed across Gengars face and struck its eyes.

"What?!" Agatha yelled in surprise. Gengar wailed in immense pain and grabbed at its face, trying to stop the throbbing sensation behind its eyes. Cinders collapsed backwards, finally falling asleep. But thanks to his attack now Gengar wouldn't be able to use Hypnosis anymore. Joe couldn't believe his luck. Now he had his chance back. The crowd held their breath. Quickly Joe withdrew Cinders. He wasn't able to fight anymore. Wordlessly he slipped the ball back onto his belt and sent out his last pokémon still conscious.

"Go, Pippy!" He called. The small yellow Pikachu jumped out, looking very determined. While Gengar was busy trying to calm the cuts on its face Pippy was able to take it by surprise. "Thunderbolt!" Joe called. Sparks flew and a long bolt of electricity shot from the small mouse's cheeks and struck Gengar in the side.

"No!" Agatha growled. She gripped her walking stick in her hands like a bat.

"Again!" Joe called. Pippy fired another thunderbolt, hitting Gengar in its shoulder.

"Fight it!" Agatha cried. Gengar turned and opened its eyes. No hypnosis was going to come from them anymore. Its eyes had gone milky gray and scared. It was hard to tell if it could even see anymore. Apparently it could because when it threw a shadow ball it nearly hit Pippy. He rolled aside just in time, firing another thunderbolt. This thunderbolt hit Gengar in the chest. Small sparks of static shuddered around it. This time it could not attack back. This time it was stuck where it was. Pippy smiled and readied to finish it off. "NO!" Agatha exclaimed.

"Strike now!" Joe called. "Take it out!" Pippy jumped. His sparking static ball form rose into the air in front of Gengar. His body blocked out the light onto its face, creating an eclipse. Gengar could do nothing but watch. Pippy spun around like a cutter, rotating faster and faster as he hovered in time above the ground. Then he exploded into a field of static. A thunderbolt shot out of his body and hit Gengar square in the forehead. Pippy landed back to the ground on all fours, looking up at the stunned ghost. Gengar slowly crossed its eyes to where it had been struck, let out a weak cackling laugh and fell backwards. Its fat body hit the ground with a light thump and its eyes closed. There was silence and then there was cheering. The crowd erupted in excitement. Everyone roared their approval. The announcer… (Insert description here.)

"_What an A-Mazing performance we've seen here today, ladies and gentlemen. It looked like Gengar was going to wipe out our challenger's whole team when this happens. Now it's just Pikachu Vs Agatha's final pokémon. Does she still stand a chance at winning without Gengar? We'll soon find out!" _And he disappeared again. Agatha looked stunned at where Gengar lay. Her mouth was hanging open like a vice.

"You… defeated Gengar." She stammered. She looked up at Joe who was also looking quite surprised. "How? I had you. I had you!" Joe shrugged, unsurely.

"I had confidence." He told her honestly. "I just trusted my pokémon to take it out and it did." All form of sinisterness seemed to disappear from Agatha suddenly. It was like watching the petals fall away from a nightshade flower. She closed her mouth, looking defeated already.

"Oh." She stammered. Then she withdrew Gengar. She clipped his pokéball back to her pocket. "I see. Right." She finished. Her voice sounded tired and sad. Then she released her final pokémon. A haunter. The pokémon looked ready to fight but also very young. It clearly wouldn't stand up to a beating. "I was hoping I wouldn't have to use him." She explained, her voice not rising in any form of happiness. "Let's get this over with." Suddenly there was a low furious growl from behind Joe. He turned in surprise to see Ralph rising slowly in the air. He was awake, he was fuelled and he was VERY angry. His jaw was clenched so hard it could crush rock. His wings flapped slowly, looking surprisingly intimidating for a creature that usually didn't succeed in being so. He stopped gaining height when he reached the same level as Joe's head, his eyes fixed on Haunter. He was not happy.

"Ralph?" Joe said, slowly. Ralph didn't respond. He just kept staring at the opponent who was looking actually quite scared. Then suddenly he was gone, flying forwards, wings out, aimed in an X shape at the opponent. There was a short fight and then it was all over. Haunter barely managed to fight back. It never stood a chance. The sad ghost pokémon hit the floor, an unconscious mist of purple and grey. Ralph floated above it, growling quietly. Agatha's jaw dropped again. Joe looked stunned. Even the crowd were quite amazed. They had never seen such a sudden turn around, especially against Agatha. Then there was furious, furious clapping. The crowd burst into cheering and yelling and applause and gratuitous wails of delight. They all seemed so amazed that he had won like that. Even the announcer sounded quite stunned.

_"__Um…"_ He stuttered over the microphone. _"Folk… I have no idea what to say. Our challenger here just took out Agatha. He's the second one to have done so this year. And I've never seen anyone do so like that before. That takes some real power and confidence. Please give a big round of applause for Joseph Glende, The Slayer of Ghosts!"_ The speakers switched off again. Joe thought to himself. 'The Slayer of Ghosts.' It wasn't exactly the most imaginative title but he liked it all the same. He wanted to hold onto it and save it for another time it may come in useful. Ralph flew back over to him and nuzzled his head. Joe chuckled.

"Well you're okay again." He laughed. Ralph purred and hugged him. Pippy joined in, grabbing Joe's leg and hugging it with all four legs. Joe looked down at him and smiled. "Alright, get off you two." He shook himself and both pokémon jumped off him, taking a few steps back. "I think it's time for you two to rest." He told them, unclipping Pippy's pokéball and withdrawing him. As he clipped the pokéball back to his belt he turned to see Agatha sadly withdrawing Haunter. She looked very disappointed with herself. Joe went to go over to her.

_"__Now that our challenger has defeated the third member of the elite four he can go on to take on the last of them. If he wins that then he might become the champion. Might. We shall see when we get there. In the meantime we're going to be given a short display of the ghost type pokémon and the grace they can have in movement. During which we shall be setting up the final arena and in an hour we can move on to the final battle. Till then… See you later!"_ The microphone's switched off. Joe reached Agatha. She was staring miserably at the floor. He reached out to put a hand on her shoulder but she shrugged him off.

"Are you ok?" He asked. She didn't respond. Joe stepped back, trying to give her space. "I…I'm sorry if I disgraced you." He told her, kindly. Agatha seemed to give a weak chuckle.

"You disgrace me?" She repeated. "No. Don't worry, child. You've not disgraced me. I've disgraced myself." Joe felt a little taken aback. "I underestimated you and I lost. I won't do that again. But even so I feel you would have won either way." She turned to him, giving a small smile. It was much warmer then the last time. Instead of looking sinister it looked kind. Warming. Welcoming. She nodded behind him. Joe turned and saw that the opposite wall doors were opening up. The final hallway and the final arena lay beyond. Agatha smiled at him. "Now go." She said. "Go kick ass." Joe smiled back. He then looked up at the crowd. They were cheering him on, all of them. They all wanted to see him win now. He nodded to them and turned, heading for the door. With the confidence and grace of a film star he walked towards the doorway. He stepped through it and turned back around. Ralph joined his side. Both of them smile through the doorway at the crowd. Agatha had released a small ghost pokémon from a black pokéball and it had begun making fluttering movement in a dance style. Joe waved at her. She waved back. Then the doors slid back shut. Joe breathed out, heavily. The excitement of the battles was getting to him. He'd never felt so alive.

"That's three down already." He said aloud, turning his head to Ralph who was smiling and buzzing with excitement too. They both nodded heads to each other as the doors closed shut and left them in the dark. "Only one left. And then… the Champion!"

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**You heard the man! Only one chapter left! "And then... The Champion!"**


	39. Chapter 39: Elite Four Blue

**Thankfully this is the last Elite Four battle's you'll have to suffer through. But is it the last battle in the entire story? You'll have to keep reading to find out.**

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"That's three down already." Joe said aloud, turning his head to Ralph who was smiling and buzzing with excitement too. They both nodded heads to each other as the doors closed shut and left them in the dark. "Only one left. And then… the Champion!"Behind Joe there was a sudden quiet yet echoing clap. Then a voice followed behind it.

"A nice self motivating speech you made." It told him in a young, kindly voice. "And I congratulate you in getting this far." Joe spun around. A figure was standing behind him. It was clearly a young man, maybe five years older than Joe or less, but because of the dark it wasn't easy to tell. It was clear there was a smile on his face however and a pair of sparkling brown eyes glimmered in the dark. Long spiky orange-brown hair stuck up from his head and he wore a black zipped-up long sleeved jacket and a pale brown pair of cargo pants. He held up a calming hand, seeing Joe clearly turn in surprise. "Don't panic." He said quickly. "Don't panic. I'm not here to hurt you or harass you. I simply wish to talk." Joe took a step back.

"Who are you?" He asked, his back tapping the metal door. Ralph kept his eyes focused on the stranger. The figure seemed to bow, acting surprisingly humble for some reason.

"My name is Blue." He said, standing straight again. "I'm the fourth member of the elite four. But I'm not important right now. I came here talk about you." Joe gasped in the dark.

"You're Blue?" He said, sounding amazed. The figure nodded, confirming. "_The_ Blue. The one who was rival to the famous Red and helped him defeat Team Rocket before. The one who then became champion only to be defeated and replaced by Red a few days later." Blue chuckled.

"Is that really all people remember me for?" He asked, his white teeth glistening in the dark light. "Yes, that is me. I'm so glad you know the name. I must admit it always embarrasses me when people bring up my time as champion. It was short but sweet, I must admit. Still, Red was always the better trainer." He paused, chuckling to himself. "But now I am a member of the Elite Four. It's not as bad as it may sound. I enjoy my small time in battles. Not many get past Agatha but the on that has was very strong indeed. I enjoyed battling him." Joe's eyes lit up.

"You battled Tom already?" He asked. Blue nodded. "Did he win?" He asked. Blue did not react.

"Ah, that is for you to find out, my friend." He explained, cunningly, tapping the edge of his nose. Joe's shoulders sagged, disappointedly. "But now I wish to talk about you. The one who has staggeringly managed to take out my three other Elite members. I want to know about you." He turned suddenly. A light flashed on, revealing the small bench and coffee table. Blue turned back around and smiled. "Shall we?"

Joe and Blue sat at the bench, drinking coffee and talking for several minutes. Ralph sat next to Joe, lying with his wings folded and trying to get some kind of rest while his friend chatted away with this new figure. The conversation wasn't terribly interesting. It was mainly about their journey experiences. It started with one simple question.

"So, how has someone like you got this far so quickly?" Blue asked. Joe turned.

"Sorry?" He asked back.

"I mean what's your story. You wake up one day and suddenly you're a trainer. What happening during your travel? What experiences did you have? It intrigues me to learn the kind of things others experience on their first time travelling with pokémon. You can learn so much just by talking to them about it." Joe thought for a second about that.

"Well…" He started. "I started around a month and a half ago now. I lived just outside of Pallet town; I imagine you've been there." Blue nodded.

"Oh yes." He smiled. "I've been there." Joe coughed.

"I already had planned to get a pokémon from Professor Oak but the night before I see Ralph here…" - He gestured to Ralph – "on the hillside being attacked by beedrills. Of course I rush out and save him and… well the rest went from there." He smiled at his bat friend. Ralph smiled back, his eyes sliding shut slowly like the winding of a clockwork peep hole. Blue leant forwards onto an arm.

"So you didn't start with a generic starter pokémon, but instead got a pokémon you'd caught yourself." Blue noted. "That's a little like what I did. I wasn't given a starter either. Instead when I started I got an Eevee. My grandfather, Professor Oak, Thought it would be a good idea to give me the power of choice." He tutted to himself. "Wish I'd used it better." He looked back at Joe who was a little surprised by something he'd said.

"I didn't even know that the professor had children, let alone grandchildren."

"Well he does." Blue confirmed. "But because of his job he doesn't see them much or even talk about them. But that's fine by me. I still call him via PC phone now and then. He asks how my Pokedex is. I tell him what I've learned. It's all good in the name of research." He sighed. "But I still remember the days when I lived with him at the Lab. I miss it now and then." He looked at the floor. He sipped from his drink. Then there was a hiss of exhaled air and he sat up again. "But enough about me." He announced suddenly. Joe jolted in surprise. "Tell me about you." He continued. "I want to know how you ended up here, challenging the elite four. I want to know how you took out Team Rocket eight years after their initial defeat." Joe thought for a second.

"Well, after me and Ralph joined up as a team we went to Viridian City and then on to Pewter. Most of the journey isn't really that interesting. I took on all the gym leaders and caught several different pokémon, six of which are currently on my team. With Team Rocket I had a few friends who helped me out. I kind of got lucky with taking them out I guess. You see Giovanni turned up and managed to convince most of them to quit. After that the few left just fled." He paused. Blue was listening intently.

"So you didn't actually defeat them at all?" He asked, trying to understand what Joe meant. Joe shook his head.

"Well, no, I did fight them but their leader was way too overpowered. He also didn't fight fare. But then Giovanni pops back up and he scampers of." Blue seemed a little surprised.

"So you let him go?" He asked. Joe shook his head sadly. Blue looked a little concerned, but he quickly covered it up. "Well I don't think it's likely anyone will see him again anytime soon." He quickly contradicted. "I don't think they'll have enough people or recourses to continue Team Rocket even if they wanted to." Joe nodded but he didn't seem too certain. Archer's final words echoed through his mind suddenly.

"After all that stuff with the rockets I got my last gym badge then made my way up here. And that's basically it." Blue raised an eyebrow.

"So you had no trainer problems all this time?" He asked, rather surprised. "You didn't train any tricky pokémon. You didn't get caught up in any horrible disasters? You didn't have to let any go?" Joe lowered his head slightly, remembering several of those examples.

"Well I was caught in a cave-in a while ago but as you can see I made it back out ok. But I did also lose one of my pokémon in Lavender town." He paused briefly. "He was killed by Team Rocket when they attacked the tower." He stopped. He didn't want to have to think about that again. Blue gulped.

"Damn." He muttered, feeling sorry for Joe. "I'm sorry to hear that. But you still had the strength to continue on." Joe nodded, trying to get the memory out of his head. "And you made it this far." Blue continued. "Don't ever forget the experiences you go through or the pain you suffer." He explained, sagely. "They are what builds you. They are what makes you stronger." Joe nodded and turned to Blue.

"So now I've told my story. What's yours?" He asked, simply. Blue slid back a little.

"My story?" He asked. "I thought you already knew my story."

"I know what is written down and believed by everyone else. I wanted to hear what you experienced through you." Blue nodded, completely understanding what he meant.

"Well, if I'm honest, it was Red who did all the fighting Team Rocket. All I really did was get in the way. Back then I was ten and arrogant. And I mean seriously arrogant. I had little to no respect for anyone or anything around me. Yeah I caught a lot of pokémon and became the champion but I never fully respected my team. I saw them pretty much as tools and because of that I could never be as good as Red." He gulped. "But I've had eight years to learn from that. I retrained a lot of my pokémon and now I'm much stronger. I don't catch pokémon purely because they look nice or are rare. I catch them if I want to use them on my team. But I can't change the way I acted." He shuffled his legs around. "Did you know that near lavender town one of my pokémon died and I so didn't care that the second I saw Red again I battled him." He chuckled. "That was such an ignorant thing to do." Joe didn't laugh but he smiled slightly.

"That's the whole lavender town curse, though." He joked. "You're the third person I know who's lost a pokémon either near or at there." There was short silence following the laughter. It stayed for a while, leaving awkwardness in its wake. Then finally Blue spoke again. He stood up slowly.

"Well I believe that it's time for me to go." He explained, reaching forward and putting his empty coffee cup on the table. "But don't worry. I'll see you in probably forty five minutes time. I'd make sure your prepared for then. I don't plan to go easy on you." Joe nodded.

"Of course." He responded. Blue smiled and walked towards the doors into the final arena.

"Oh, by the way…" He added, stopping at the large doors and disappearing partially in the blackness. "I'd recommend you save some medicine for after the battle. If you win your going to have a much stronger challenge that the Elite Four to face. Joe raised a surprised eyebrow.

"Has someone already become the champion?" He asked. Blue didn't move. In the faint dark Joe could see the vague hints of a wink from Blue's eye.

"You'll find out soon enough." And with that he turned towards the slowly opening doors and slid through the small gap before they closed again, leaving Joe and Ralph alone in the darkness, waiting for their final battle to approach.

Forty Five minutes later the doors reopened and Joe and Ralph walked out into the arena. During the waiting Time Joe had healed up the rest of his team and gotten them ready to fight again. However in the process of doing so he'd used up all his awakenings, meaning if any of his team did fall asleep he'd either have to withdraw them or wait till they woke up by themselves. After that he'd shut his eyes till the now easily recognised alarm rang and woke him again. Now he was walking out to face what could be his last battle before taking on whoever the new champion is. He stepped through the red doors on into the battlefield. Like all the others before it was basic and simple with simple drown walls and floor. The floor however was covered in a thin layer of sand and dust, seemingly emulating some kind of fighting ring. It was also strangely circular, much more so then the previous rooms. The pitch wasn't a rectangular field but was now a large spherical outline with a line through it. The crowd was clapping again, though not as much as they had from the previous three battles. This was mainly because they were so exhausted from constantly doing so. Thankfully this was probably the last time they were going to be doing so much. Joe stepped up to his end of the field and waited there calmly. Ralph joined him. The sudden, excitable voice of the announcer popped up again to explain everything going on. For some reason he sounded a lot more excited than the last three times combined, as if someone had given him a box of energy drinks as refreshment.

_"__Wwwwwwwwelcome back, Ladies and Gentlemen, to the final battle with the Elite Four. With any luck we could see a new champion crowned this afternoon if this battle goes well. Our current challenger has managed to wipe aside all of his opponents so far, Thawing Lorelei, Crushing Bruno and Departing Agatha all without taking rematches or using items during the fights. But now he's at the fourth and final door. Ahead of him stands an opponent who not only wields the power of many different pokémon, but who also used to be the original Kanto Champion. You all know his name. You all recognise his face. You all cheer for his power and knowledge."_ There was a short pause for suspense. At the far end of the room the final set of large red metal doors began to swing open. There was no mist or fog or smoke or even any form of visible gas which came through the small crack as the doors swung open. It simply opened wide and a figure in the shadows could be seen stepping forwards. _"Please put your hands together for the Ex-Champion himself… Blue!"_

The honest figure of Blue walked out, stepping onto the thin plastic floor and kicking up a small cloud with each step. He didn't even show of or wave at the crowd or anything like what the others had done. He simply stepped out, one hand in his pocket the other hand raised and slightly clenched as if he was carrying a bag with it, al while smiling peacefully and looking up into the stands. The crowd went berserk. There was rampant cheering. There was ecstatic screaming. There was sharp appreciative whistling. It seemed like the room had gone from dead silence to sudden explosion. Several young girls in the audience fainted, followed by a chorused shout of 'We love you, Blue!' from the girls and 'Blue! Blue! Blue!' from the boys. Blue simply smiled at them all, hardly seeming fazed or even concerned by all the shouting. It was kind of surprising. Joe chuckled slightly. It reminded him of how Boy Bands got responded to, except in this case it's both genders cheering for someone. Blue finally fell to a halt, stopping at his edge of the battlefield and lowering his head to look over to Joe. He gave a quick smile of encouragement and a subtle wink. Then he looked back to the audience and waved. Several more people fainted. Then he spoke. Even though his voice wasn't very loud it had a strange way of extending itself around the room, not as an echo but as a wave.

"Good afternoon, everyone." He said it so simply. It was quite surprising that it had the same effect as Bruno roaring at the top of his lungs with the back of his throat. Where he had been so forceful and overpowering with his performance, Blue was getting a stronger reaction from simply acting modest. The cheer boomed louder for a few seconds before falling silent so they could all hear him talking. He chuckled to himself, giving a bright star-filled smile. "It's great to see so many of you here and watching today, not only here to appreciate me but also my challenger." He gestured to Joe. The cheer went up again. Joe lowered his head a little, tying to make himself unseen. Blue turned back again. "Well you all know my story. I was champion for only a day before being beaten by the famous Red. Then I was the Viridian Gym leader and then I was taken up here when Lance moved on up in the world. But forget about all that. Today I am here to test our young challenger to see if he is in fact ready to take up suck a position as Champion. Today you are here to watch the outcome. So I say, Lets not beat about the bush any longer and get this battle underway!" There was a louder cheer now. Clapping followed it. Blue nodded his head and turned back to Joe. "Are you ready?" He asked quietly. Joe was surprised to realise he was actually talking to him properly rather than showing off for the audience.

"Huh? Oh… yes, yes, I'm ready." He answered quickly, nodding his head. His had slid forwards slightly, knocking his longer hair over his eyes. He wiped it away. Blue smiled kindly.

"Alright." He said. Then he raised his hands into the air. The crowd fell silent. "We are ready to begin!" He called. There was a mad cheer as the crowd got a little too excited. Blue put his hands back and turned back to Joe, unclipping one of five pokéballs and holding it in his hand. He positioned himself into a unique stance. He stood side on and legs slightly apart. He had both his hands gripped around the pokéball and held into the air at chest level, tapping against his jacket. His head was lowered and his eyes were closed. A small smile appeared and faded on the visible corner of his mouth.

_"__Trainers, ready your pokémon!"_ The announcer bellowed over the microphone. A small amount of feedback caused most people – especially Ralph – to cover their ears. Blue nodded to himself and turned. He positioned himself into a unique stance. He stood side on and legs slightly apart, facing the right side wall. He had both his hands gripped around the pokéball and held into the air at chest level, tapping against his jacket. His head was lowered and his eyes were closed. A small smile appeared and faded on the visible corner of his mouth. Joe reached for a pokéball and took up a stance as well. It was the simple Pokémon Trainer Ready stance: Legs apart, back hunched slightly forwards, head out, arms out, the arm with pokéball in pulled back slightly. There was silence from all, including the audience. Then the words followed, smashing Silence like a thin glass plate.

_"__Let the battle… Begin!"_

Two pokéballs flew through the air. Both were the casual red and white. Both met at the middle point for each side. Both snapped open and released two very different pokémon. On Joe's side Pitt the Venusaur appeared, growling slightly and rocking on his large legs. On Blue's side a large, pail white bird appeared. It was clearly an evolution of Pidgey because of its body colour and head plumage and as well at that it looked like a much bigger version of a Pidgey. The only real difference apart from its size was that on its head plumes it had only two red long feathers which curled back and past its head onto its neck. The other three in between the two were a golden yellow colour. Where Pidgeotto looked kind of scrawny, Pidgeot looked magnificent, almost royal. In much older times Pidgeot had been considered royal birds. Now of course that wasn't commonly known or even thought about. Now people saw them as 'just birds'. Joe had to admit he gave a small gasp upon seeing it. Not in surprise or fear but in awe. Pidgeot began flapping it swings slowly, holding them out flat in between flaps which keeping it just level in the air. Its hawk eyes focused on the humungous plant in front of it. It gave a small click of its beak in the same way a human may chuckle slightly when amused. Pitt narrowed his brow in an attempt to seem strong. It didn't work too well. Blue returned to a normal battle stance now. He pointed out a hand.

"Pidgeot, Wing Attack!" Pidgeot gave a mighty flap of its wings and flew forwards suddenly, its wing spread out and razor sharp.

"Pitt, tackle it when it comes in to attack!" Joe called. Pitt nodded and watched as Pidgeot gathered speed and flew in for the attack. The attacker was getting quickly closer and closer. Then Pitt charged, running forwards towards the large bird, his head lowered. Pidgeot's eyes shrunk to a narrow glare. And it dived. Pidgeot's wing hit Pitt's forehead like a feathered hammer onto a flowery anvil. There was a half second before both pokémon skidded past the other, yelling in pain. Pidgeot had bruised its wing striking Pitt's tough, bony head. Pitt had bruised his head hitting Pidgeot in its stiffened wing. Both pokémon turned and looked back at the other. Then they quickly got back to their feet (Or wings in Pidgeot's case.) and readied to attack again. "Solarbeam!" Joe called. Pitt began to gather light through his flower as it built up in his open mouth.

"Sand Attack!" Blue called suddenly. Pidgeot dropped lower to ground, got close to Pitt and kicked up a small pile of dust with a flick of its foot. The sand/dust mixture sailed through the air and hit Pitt in the face. He blinked manically as small rock particles caught in his eyes, blinding him a little. He rubbed his head against a leg but was unable to reach it without toppling over. Blue gave a small glad smile. "Good! Now use Quick Attack!" while Pitt was too busy trying to get his sight back and aim his attack Pidgeot flew in at amazing speed and struck him lightly in the side with its full body before flying past. Pitt stumbled aside with the force and turned back. He was just about able to see now. He picked out the large flying bird in the air, aimed and fired. A sudden large green beam of solar energy flew out and passed right in front of Pidgeot's face as was flying, causing it to flap to a halt and narrowly avoid burning itself in the blast. The beam continued on up towards the roof and hit the glass dome, continuing on through that and into the sky, through the clouds and into space. When it finally faded away and all the blinding light was gone it revealed that a large, spherical hole had been made where the beam hit, molten glass dribbling at the heated edged. In the sky a burn hole had punctured a passing cloud and it was slowly healing back. Back in the arena Pidgeot's beam was slightly singed at the front where it had nearly flown head first through the beam. Its expression was that of pure untamed surprise, leaving it frozen to the spot, flapping slowly in mid air. Pitt shook his head and finally cleared up his eyes again. He saw Pidgeot hovering in the air. He saw the hole in the roof.

"Damn!" Joe exclaimed loudly as he, Blue and the audience all looked up at the damage he had done.

"I Hope you're going to pay for the damage." Blue could be heard joking. Joe chuckled slightly. He hoped that he wasn't actually being serious. He didn't have the money to fix a glass roof. The battle continued again as Pidgeot finally snapped itself out of its trance and dive bombed back down to Pitt's level. The two pokémon stared each other out, standing or floating with several feet free between each other. They were trying to anticipate the others reaction. Then Joe made a call.

"Tackle It!" He yelled. Pitt ran forwards at a slow pace with his plodding run. Pidgeot was in no trouble for dodging.

"Double Team!" Blue called. As Pitt rushed it to attack he was surprised to find that Pidgeot had suddenly become three Pidgeots. Then they became five. Then Seven. Then Nine. Suddenly there was a whole ring of Pidgeots surrounding him in an attacking circle. Pitt swirled around slowly, unsure what he was looking at. Then more attacks were called. "Quick Attack" Blue shouted. Pitt was hit in the side by a blur of pail which then darted back into the ring of copies. "Again!" another attack hit him in the opposite side this time. He stumbled around confused, unable to figure out which was the real enemy that was attacking him.

"Pitt, stop moving!" Joe called. Pitt stopped moving. "Alright. Now just stay still. Don't do anything till I tell you." Pitt nodded. He stood perfectly still like a large, green, flower covered statue sprouting seeds. He was so still it was tough to tell if he was even breathing. There was no movement as he stood motionless, surrounded by circling images of a rearing Pidgeot. Then finally something happened and broke the silence again after it had just fixed itself from the first time it was shattered.

"Quick Attack!" Blue called. As he did so however Joe also called an attack.

"Protect!" Both pokémon made their moves. Pidgeot sped out from its hiding place in a blur of movement and lashed out at the large plant dinosaur's side, aiming to hit it. Before it could get that far, however, it found itself meeting abruptly with a sudden see through green field which bounced it back like a stone of a brick wall. It squawked and flipped backwards in the air, spinning like a feathery football as it fell to the ground. It landed awkwardly on its back, its eyes staring up into the sky, dully. A few seconds later it was kicking at the air, trying to role itself over. When it finally did it looked back and was struck in back by a large, flat, green shoulder. It slid across the ground, glancing in surprise at the charging Pitt who had just knocked it forwards again. Pitt roared angrily and stared at the quite surprised and now worried Pidgeot.

"Solarbeam!" Joe called. Light gathered in Pitts mouth. Pidgeot's eyes widened. It squawked in surprised and tried to back away, pushing with its wings as it scrabbled to get back into the air. The light in Pitts mouth turned green and grew larger. His mouth expanded slightly. Pidgeot gave a hurried selection of flaps and slowly got back into the air. It flapped more desperately, trying to get out of the way of the soon to come attack. Pitt's Solarbeam primed, ready to fire. Then it did. In slow motion the large green beam extended from his mouth and grew forwards, reaching the terrified, escaping bird in front of him. The light reached out at impossible speed and finally touched Pidgeot's tail feathers. There was a petrified squawk as the large predatory bird vanished into the beam. A few seconds later it was seen falling out of the beam and towards the ground. The immense light finally faded away, leaving another hole in the glass dome, a large venusaur feeling exhausted and parched, and an unconscious Pidgeot lying on its back on the dusty floor, looking open eyed up at the sky. There was a small gasp from the crowd. Then there was applause. It seemed to be actually for Blue and Pidgeot rather than Joe. They were shouting things like 'You can do it, Blue!' and 'Thanks' for your effort, Pidgeot.' Joe found himself taken aback by this. Why were they cheering for him? He just lost a pokémon. He was also a member of the Elite Four. That was probably his weakest pokémon. Blue respectfully bowed thanks to the audience who cheered in response and withdrew Pidgeot from the field. The stunned bird gave a small, weak, surprised squawk as it was pulled back in. Blue exhaled. It wasn't a sigh because clearly he wasn't upset. If anything he seemed rather happy. Not exactly happy about losing a pokémon but happy, maybe, about the performance he was getting from Joe and his team.

_"__That's one of Blue's team down already. Pidgeot, the first pokémon he ever caught. Now its Six Vs Four. But it's still anyone's game right now. It's still possible for Blue to pull victory back."_ And the announcer returned to his unseen corner, waiting for something else to announce. Blue turned back to Joe.

"Ah." He smiled, clearly feeling the pump of excitement on his mind. "So you really are strong." He cracked his neck. Somehow he managed to make it not seem intimidating. "Great. So this will be a fun battle, even if I lose." He reached for a second pokéball and released it, sending out a huge, blue, towering Gyarados. The large sea dragon reared up on its scaled body, its gaping jaw open wide and violent eyes staring at Joe. Pitt was standing under its shadow, feeling quite intimidated. Gyarados roared, creating a small plume of purple fire as it did so. The audience seemed to shudder in unison. "Alright, Gyarados." Blue called up to the beast. Let's do this!" Gyarados roared again in response. Without thinking Joe withdrew Pitt from the field, leaving his side barren. He decided that Gyarados looked quite intimidating and, because Pitt was already quite tired from fighting Pidgeot, he would give him a rest and let another one of his pokémon fight it.

"N-nice going, Pitt." Joe said quietly, thanking his pokémon for his help in the battle. He then clipped the pokéball back to his belt and reached for another one. "Say what you like about gyarados" He thought. "They definitely deserve the title of 'Atrocious' Pokémon." He wasn't sure whether it was called that because of the way they looked or the way they acted. It was probably a mixture of both. He threw the new pokéball. "Go, Pippy!" He yelled. The small yellow mouse jumped out onto the field, sparking electrons and fur raised with static. He glanced forwards and saw a large scaly white underbelly before him and a long aquatic tail behind. He followed it up and saw more underbelly reaching higher. He looked right above him and saw a tarrying stare looking back. The large, white, anger filled eyes sat under a small, three pointed arrowhead crown and under them a huge, rimmed, cavernous mouth sat, small fangs poking out from the bottom jaw and top. On its chin two long winkers ran, curling at the end. Its breath smelt of his and sounded like cold wind running through a cave. Pippy squeaked. He took a step back. Joe saw this. "No, Pippy." He tried to encourage him. "It's Ok. It's just a big sea snake. You can take it out!" The second he said this he heard Blue call a command.

"Bite!" Gyarados reared back on its long body and then lunged forward, jaw open wide. Pippy gave a small high pitched squeak of fear and jumped aside, avoiding the attack and leaving Gyarados to headbutt the floor, its teeth digging up dust and plastic. It recoiled back, its face aching, and glared at the small evasive mouse. Pippy stared back, still looking quite frightened. The thing was gigantic, about six and a half metres tall at full length. It towered over pretty much everything in the room, even standing as high as the audience. They were all gasping in excitement. "Dragon Rage!" Blue called. Gyarados swerved its lower tail into a coil and it aimed its head at the area Pippy was standing. It breathed out and a long yet thin plume of purple flames fell out, scalding the ground. Pippy however had been lucky enough to dash aside and avoid most of the attack. He was sparking with static now, clearly preparing an attack.

"Thunderbolt!" Joe called. Pippy released the static in the form of a long, jagged bolt of electricity. It sparked through the air like a crack in the sky and struck Gyarados in the side of the head. The huge dragon roared in pain and swung around to glare maliciously at the small mouse. Small sparks were still falling away from the area the bolt hit.

"Hydro pump!" Blue called. Gyarados began gathering water in its stuck open mouth and released it in a strong torrent down at the area the mouse had been. Pippy of course had moved out of the way but when he looked back he saw that the attack was following him. Gyarados was not only following where he was going but was also aiming the attack onto him. The hydro pump was getting quickly closer and closer. Then it reached him. Pippy was knocked aside by the sheer force of the attack, causing him to role onto his back uncontrollably as the hydro pump pushed him along the ground. He began to spark again. Gyarados kept up its attack, seeing that it had its opponent caught in the attack now and it was going to finish it off as quickly as it could. Pippy's head thudded against something tough. He took a quick glance back to see he'd been pushed into the arena wall and was still being crushed against it. He furrowed his brow in concentration as he both fought back against the attack and readied his own. Gyarados was basically smiling now under its facially engulfing attack. It had the cemented belief that it had already won. Then, to its genuine surprise, Pippy released a huge spark of electricity and sent it into the hydro pump. Gyarados had less than half a second to realise what he'd done before his body reacted to it ahead of time. The electricity Pippy had released spread around the particles of water in the hydro pump, jumped upwards and headed back along the attack, straight towards Gyarados. Before the giant dragon could even realise what was happening it was struck in the back of the mouth by a powerful, sudden, jolting electric shot. It flinched and reared back in distressing pain, its attack stopping and its throat spamming shut for several seconds. It let out a pain filled yet hoarse roaring wail as its head waved up and about in surprised pain. Pippy, who was now free of the attack, pushed himself quickly back to his feet and used another move, hardly waiting for Joe to instruct him. As it turned out Joe was about to tell him to do the same thing.

"Use Substitute!" He called. After several more seconds Gyarados finally stopped screaming and lowered its body back down again into a snake coil. It looked around for the annoying little yellow rat and saw it sitting a few metres away, unmoving and staring dumbly at the opposite wall, an odd smile on its daft face. Gyarados growled. Its eyes glared at the pest. Now the creature was a gonner. It lunged to bite. Sadly Gyarados' eyes weren't good at picking out detail. They basically saw outlines and colours. In the world of Gyarados it didn't feel it needed to see detail. In its opinion all creatures were the same. If something attacked it or made it mad it didn't care who, it was going to burn down the entire village anyway, probably killing the accused in the process. While this usually worked for it in the wild unfortunately this one evolutionary choice stopped it from being able to tell when or even if it had been tricked. This in fact had happened. As the creature lunged down at the motionless Pippy its jaws opened again and it struck, engulfing the substitute whole. It coughed and spat the fluffy doll out again, shaking its head in surprise. Unluckily for it its head was still touching the ground. Pippy meanwhile – the real Pippy – had been waiting behind the substitute for Gyarados to do exactly what it had just done. "Now, get it!" Joe shouted from his side of the field. Pippy jumped. His small furry body landed on Gyarados' head and his small front paws grabbed its crown. Gyarados' reared suddenly, nearly pulling Pippy off with the sheer force of its movements. He managed to hang on however, but only just. He swung by one small paw gripping the right horn of the crown. Gyarados looked up, saw the thin yellow and brown tail waiving in front of its right eye and shook its head. Pippy was thrown about, left and right, yet somehow still managed to hang on. He reached up his other hand and got a grip with that too. After several seconds of shaking Gyarados finally stopped, its eyes spinning like rotors and its mind muddled. Pippy was also feeling relatively dizzy, but more seasick then anything. Slowly, aching all over, he pulled himself onto the crown and sat at the ridge, still holding on to the centre horn. Then, while Gyarados was still confused, he fired another thunderbolt into the top of its head. Gyarados flung its head back and Pippy nearly went sailing backwards. It was furious now. Its eyes turned a glowing red of intense pure rage. Pippy slid a little down its neck and began to scamper down its body till he was standing about halfway down it back.

Then gyarados did maybe the stupidest thing it could have done, simply in the effort for victory. It readied a hyper beam. This was stupid for multiple reasons. The first major one would be that a Gyarados' hyper beam is one of the strongest kinds there are. The move was basically evolved for them specifically. Therefore where a normal hyper beam would smash a concrete wall, a Gyarados' hyper beam would evaporate it. The second major reason was that its opponent was currently on its back… and gyarados don't have neck joints which would allow their heads to turn around and look at their backs without manoeuvring their bodies into a coil. There was only one way it could hit the opponent. Gyarados lowered its head, coiled it down and aimed its now upside down head at its own stomach. On the exact other side of its body Pippy was leaning against a white wave shaped fin. Blue was amazed by what his pokémon was doing.

"Gyarados, what are you doing?" He demanded. White light began to grow in Gyarados' mouth. Blue's eyes widened. "No! Don't do that!" He roared. But it was already too late. Gyarados was already set on defeating its foe. It fired the hyper beam. What happened next has to be described in slow motion. The long blue sea serpent fired a long powerful hot beam of light into its own chest. The beam hit and forced its body back, kicking its tail up into the air with the sheer force. Pippy, realising what was going on, jumped of quickly and scampered aside and out of the way. Gyarados meanwhile was suddenly pulled into the air by its own tail, jolting its falling head up with it and sending the last part of the hyper beam up at the roof. The glass dome shattered and glass and sand fell down around them. The crowd exclaimed in fear as glass shards bounced of an invisible barrier above them and slid to the side of the arena. Then the creature spun a full circle in mid air, its hyper beam fading, before finally it hit the ground heavily, lying out flat on its stomach, too weak to do anything else but stair forwards. There was a congregational gasp of surprise and amazement from everyone. Blue was standing open mouthed, totally stunned by what had just happened. Gyarados lay fatigued on the floor where it hit, its eyes turning back to white. It was unable to even move. The hyper beam had used up all its energy. Then two small yellow mice came into view. (There were two of them because Gyarados' vision had gone double) They sat in front of its face, looking quite proud of themselves and smiling at the large dragon. Gyarados exhaled painfully, unable to move still. Then they both started to ready static. If Gyarados had had any form of strength its eyes would have widened in fear and realisation. Then they both fired. The two bolts of electricity joined at the centre of its vision as it hit him square in the fore head. Then the fight was over. Gyarados was defeated, Pippy was exhausted, the arena was a mess and the roof was nothing more than a few shards of glass. Thank god it wasn't raining right now. The crowd were silent for a second. Then there was outrageous applause. Cheers went all round for Pippy and Joe. Blue finally closed his mouth and withdrew Gyarados. Pippy ran back over to Joe who hugged him gratefully. The tiny mouse had just defeated a creature more than ten times its size.

"Good work, Pippy." Joe said, rubbing the small mouse's static stricken head. Pippy squeak his happiness. Then Joe withdrew him. He held Pippy's pokéball and clipped it back to his belt. "Now it's time for you to have a rest."

_"__Well, I'll be, folks. Blue's Gyarados managed to take itself out with its own hyper beam."_ The announcer finally perked up. _"That was some original thinking from our challenger's pokémon there. Let's see if he can keep it up. The score is now down to 6 Vs 3. But Blue could still win this. We still haven't seen his ace yet." _

Blue unclipped a third pokéball and released his third pokémon. "Go, Rapidash!" He called. Onto the field a fiery horse rode. Its flame mane whipped as the wing caught it and fire followed in its wake, creating small burning marks on the floor.

Joe also reached for his third pokémon and released it. "Go, Sirena!" He called. Onto the field the calm, serene expression of Sirena the Lapras appeared. Under her a small pool of water formed, allowing her to move around the field freely without having to pull herself along. Somehow it had been programmed into her pokéball for it to do so.

The battle which followed didn't last very long. It started off again with Blue's command.

"Fury Attack!" He called. Rapidash ran forwards at fiery speeds and headbutted Sirena in the chest three times before running back around. Sirena however seemed to take almost no damage from the move. Instead she followed it up with her own.

"Psychic!" Joe called. A large sphere of pink energy spread out around the arena and hit Rapidash from all directions. It stumbled on its thin long feet and ran in for another attack.

"Fire Blast!" Blue called. Rapidash ran forwards and fired a fiery star at Sirena.

"Ice Beam!" Joe called, acting to stop the oncoming attack. A thin beam of ice fired from her mouth and not only froze over the star but also passed through it and hit Rapidash in the chest, covering its front in thin ice. The large red stallion quickly freed itself, however and continued on with its attack.

"Bounce!" Blue called. It sounded like the lyrics to some kind of dodgy song. Rapidash pushed of the ground with its back hooves and jumped high into the air, aiming its front hooves to strike Sirena it the face when it landed.

"Surf!" Joe called. Sirena rose up on a wave and released it just as Rapidash's attack landed. Its hooves hit Sirena in the face in made her wince. At the same time however it fell into the rising water wave. When it released it washed around the entire arena, clearing away all the sand, dust and glass shards and washing them into the sides. It also washed Rapidash away. The fiery horse lay unconscious at the centre of the field. Blue withdrew it.

_"__Well this isn't looking too good for our finest Elite Four member, Folks."_ The announcer deduced. _"That's his third pokémon out and now he's down to only two pokémon left. Can he turn this around or is it already too late?"_ Joe withdrew Sirena from the field and both trainers released their forth pokémon.

Onto Joe's side of the field Cinders the Charizard appeared, bellowing fire. On Blue's side of the field he released a huge, orange, small winged, long tailed dragon. Blue's Dragonite made a small gurgling sound (which was probably of excitement) and met eyes with Cinders. Cinders was seemingly chuckling to himself. This thing looked to fat to be any kind of threat to him. He was soon to find out he was very wrong indeed.

"Dragonite, Aerial Ace!" Blue called! Dragonite took off; quite fast considering it had small wings and a fat body. Its wings were glowing and sharp.

"Cinders, Dragon Rage!" As Dragonite lashed its attack in it was pelted on the back with burning blue flames. Cinders was knocked back with truly amazing power. Something as fat and slow looking as Dragonite was able to hit min that hard. He growled, his brow narrowing angrily and flew in for another attack. "Fire Blast!" Joe called. Cinders fired a burning star of fire. The attack hit Dragonite in the stomach but it hardly even flinched. It took the attack like it was nothing.

"Outrage!" Blue commanded. Dragonite suddenly stopped in mid air and just stared at Cinders from the other side of the field. Then things began to happen to it. Its eyes turned a deep bloodshot red. They became sharper and felt like they'd fire lasers at whatever they looked at. Then small whiffs of smoke came from its nose. Its small arms clenched. And then, seemingly out of nowhere, fire began form around it. Small flames spun around its body like a whirlpool of fire, getting faster and faster as more flames appeared and began to spin. Then a low growl followed, getting slowly louder and more ferocious. Instinctively Cinders prepared to defend himself. Then Dragonite threw back its head and roared. It was a long, terrifying, guttural roar that shook the foundations of the arena to its core. Then it charge. There had been almost no time to react. Dragonite's sudden burst of speed had come out of nowhere as it rushed forwards, still roaring, still flaming, still furious. There was little Cinders could do to stop the attack. All he managed to do was strike Dragonite with a steel claw before he was knocked over by the sheer force it mustered. Dragonite charged past him and skidded to a stop, turned and came running back in to attack again, this time getting slightly faster. This time Cinders had no time to do anything. He had barely started to push himself back up when suddenly he was grabbed by the horns and raised into the air. Dragonite kept charging on, holding the quite terrified Cinders by the back of his head up in front of him. He was aiming for the nearby wall.

"Cinders, break free!" Joe called. The large red lizard tried but he could not. Dragonite's grip was too strong. The giant orange dragon roared again, right in his ear. They were a few metres away from the wall now. Then Cinders did the only thing he felt he could. He spread out his wings, shut his eyes and flapped them as hard as he could. There was a 'Whoosh' sound and suddenly Cinders wasn't there anymore. He had shot several metres up and was currently hovering over the scene he had, just seconds before, been a part off. Dragonite jumped in surprise as somehow its opponent escaped his grip. Then it realised it was no longer running but was in fact flying now towards what had been its target. The force Cinders had used to escape its grasp had also pushed it a few feet into the air. Now it couldn't stop where it was heading. The wall was right in front of it. Unable to stop or slow down the creature gave a frightened yelp and dived head first into the stone wall. Once the plaster and stone pieces had all fallen away Dragonite was seen stumbling back away from the wall, holding its head in both severe pain and chronic confusion. Now was Cinders chance to get some own back.

"Focus!" Blue called. "Rain Dance!" Dragonite swayed slightly from left to right. It was tough to tell if this was due to its confusion or if it was actually trying to perform the move. Either way when it was done a small rain cloud formed at the roof of the arena, pouring water onto the battlefield. Cinders looked pretty unhappy about this because now his fire attacks were doused. But he still had his physical strength.

"Take it out with Fly!" Joe called. Cinders smiled to himself in mid air. Then he dropped, aiming himself like a red fiery candle. He shot forwards, wings folded in and heading head first straight at Dragonite's chest. In its confused state it was unable to see him coming towards it.

"Move!" Blue called. Dragonite did and hit its head against the wall behind it. "Oh, Jesus!" Blue exclaimed quietly, covering his face as he knew what was coming next. Cinders flew in closer, still pointed like a spear head. Dragonite turned. It saw through double vision the fiery forms flying straight at it. It raised its arms in defence. Cinders struck. Dragonite was rammed into the stone wall behind it, cracking it even further and leaving a much bigger dragon shaped dent. Then Cinders took a step back. Dragonite was sitting against the wall, its tail out beside it and its head drooped down against its chest. Weakly it looked back up at its attack, raindrops pouring down its face. Cinders stood in front of it, a furious mass of red scales, smoke and wings. He glared down at the defeated Dragonite, no mercy on his expression. Nothing happened between the two pokémon for several seconds. Then finally Joe gave the command.

"Cinders." Cinders turned back to him. "Finish it. But do it not so violently." Cinders nodded. He turned back and raised a glowing purple claw. Joe narrowed his eyebrows in confusion.

"Is that dragon claw?" Blue asked, also sounding quite surprised. Joe gave a just as confused nod.

"I believe it is." He agreed. Cinders pulled his Dragon Claw back, aimed it and brought it down sharply. Dragonite's head fell forwards, weakly. A small rasping snore came from its shut mouth. Cinders stepped back and turned around to Joe, smiling confidently. The crowd roared with excitement and applause. They were going mad.

_"__And that's Blue's powerhouse already down, folks. Looks like there's little chance for him to win this one. Maybe all that time without any real battles had rusted his skill. But we still have one pokémon left to see."_ The announcer evaporated again. Blue sighed and withdrew Dragonite. He put the pokéball back to his belt.

"Even though I did want you to win this battle I was hoping to at least take out one of your pokémon." He murmured. Unclipped a final pokéball as Joe withdrew Cinders from the field. He looked at it. "At least I've still got you." He added. And he threw the pokéball. Onto the field appeared a Jolteon. It quickly sniffed its surrounding and readied up to fight. Joe turned to Ralph.

"Looks like you're up." He told him. Ralph nodded, confirmatively, and flew out to his side of the field. Jolteon stared at him, small sparks flying of its hide. Ralph stared back. Rain continued to pour down around them.

_"__Looks like Blue's resorting to his starter pokémon, folks. Can Jolteon at least hope to take down our challengers Crobat? Fortunately for him the rain is still going. Let's find out if it can hope to win this time."_ The announcer added for the audience. There was a following moment of silence… Then battle began.

"Pin Missile!" Jolteon sped forwards in a flash of electricity and slashed the air with a claw. As it did so five small claw nail shaped pins flew out in Ralph's direction. Surprised by this sudden move, he rolled aside, avoiding the flying pins and flying in to make his own attack.

"Fly!" Joe called. Ralph shot into the stormy, rain sliding of his thin skin, and dived down, aiming to hit Jolteon.

"Thunder!" Blue called. Jolteon began to spark wildly. Its fur stuck up even further as the static expanded into a fuse. Then, quite suddenly, all its body static shot high into the air in the form of a huge thunderbolt and struck the rain cloud. The static residue played through the cloud for several seconds before suddenly it was is charged in the form of a gigantic bolt of lightning. Ralph glanced back and saw the huge jagged spear aim at his back. He rolled aside and narrowly avoided the main bolt itself. Unluckily however a smaller bolt which broke off from the main bolt struck him in the wing, causing him to fall into a spinning dive. Smoke flew away from the hit area of his left wing. He yelled in surprise, pain and oncoming fear as he plummeted to the ground.

"Pull up!" Joe called desperately. "Ralph tried. He held out both wings but the damage he had taken to the left one was stopping him gaining height. All he could do was slow his descent. He held his wings out like parachutes and slowly he began to slow down. Finally he touched down on the floor, his wing aching, smoke still floating off it. He glared at Jolteon who was smiling quite happily. Then suddenly it was running forwards, a blur of yellow speed.

"Double Kick!" Blue called. Jolteon reached Ralph in seconds, turn in mid run, pulled its back legs back and kicked out with both at the same time. Both feet struck Ralph on each side of the face, causing him to role backwards and onto his back. He quickly pushed himself back up however and lashed at Jolteon but it was no longer there. It ran a full circle around him before skidding like a race car back to its side of the field. "Pin Missile again!" Blue called again. Jolteon shot forwards again.

"Quickly, use Steel Wing!" Joe called to Ralph who was still struggling to get back into the air. Finally he managed it as the burn on his wing cooled down with the rain hitting it and he hovered above the ground. He didn't feel he could manage to fly any higher than that. He took in a deep breath and flew in to attack. He and Jolteon's speed was matched. Both made it at the exact same time to the centre of the field where they both made their attacks. Ralph struck Jolteon in the chest as it jumped into the air and stuck him with four of five claw shaped needles. Both pokémon fell past each other, injured by the attacks they had received. Jolteon was the first back to its feet. It was already sparking again. Small raindrops fell off its nose.

"Thunder!" Blue called. Jolteon fired the electricity bolt into the rain cloud and it began to spark again. Joe saw the warning signs.

"Quickly, use Poison Fang on it before it can hit you!" Joe called. Ralph heard him and prepared to attack. But instead of poison going to his teeth it instead went to his outstretched wings. His wings spread out and made a sharp X shape in the air. Then they began to glow, first white, then deep poisonous purple. Joe stepped back, confused. Blue raised his eyebrows. The audience gasped in surprise. "What are you…?" Joe began. But before he could stop Ralph shot forwards, his wings staying in the X position. Jolteon was too focused on aiming the thunderbolt to notice Ralph flying in to attack. It fired, sending a heavy bolt of lightning down towards the speeding crobat. It fell, aimed and hit. Ralph felt a tickling sensation on his back but he was too focused on his opponent to care about it. There was a louder gasp from the audience now. Jolteon took a step back in fear. Then he was there in front of it. His four wings slashed forwards, creating a purple X in the air. Then he took a step backwards. Jolteon just stared at him, its eyes misting over. Then, finally, they closed and slowly it fell onto its side, unconscious. Ralph turned. Everyone was looking open mouthed at him. Even Joe was completely stunned.

_"…"_ The speakers played weak static as the announcer struggled to come up with something to say about what he'd just seen. Then finally he said something. _"Ladies and Gentlemen… I… cannot describe… what we have just seen… in any logically form of sentence. You've just witnessed a crobat resist a full on lightning strike and still have the strength to take out Jolteon with one strike."_ There was short silence as everyone's mouths slowly closed again. _"I think… that our challenger… might just be… THE NEXT CHAMPION!"_ Suddenly there was a blasting beat of cheers. The crowd erupted like a pent up volcano, blasting applause and gratitude from their smoking top. A round of severe, excited applause echoed around the arena. Joe felt slightly overwhelmed. He was still staring stunned at Ralph when he finally reached his side again.

"Ralph…?" Joe asked. Ralph looked back at him, nonplussed. "How… did you do that?" He finally asked. Ralph shrugged. He didn't know. It had just happened. "I don't just mean surviving a lightning strike…" Joe added quickly. "I mean that attack. What was that?" Again Ralph shrugged. He just felt the urge to use it. Something in his mind had clicked and caused him to make that attack. It had been ticking away in his head ever since Joe had mentioned its name. "It was like some kind of…" Joe was about to say, when he stopped suddenly. He realised what it was Ralph had done. "Cross Poison?" He muttered. Was it possible for a pokémon top learn a move that the trainer had made up simply through suggestion? If it was, what other moves could a pokémon learn like that? He suddenly realised that the announcer was talking again.

_"__IT HAS HAPPENED, FOLKS!"_ he blurted from his speakers. "_A CHALLENGER HAS FINALLY DEFEATED ALL FOUR MEMBERS OF THE ELITE FOUR, CONSECUTIVELY."_ Joe turned to Ralph, an absolutely stunned yet completely excited expression on his face. Had he really done it? Had he really defeated the Elite Four? Had he really become the champion? Ralph smiled back at him, looking as equally excited. _ "NOW I DO BELIEVE THAT THE TIME HAD COME TO CROWN OURSELVES… A NEW… CH…"_ The announcer stopped suddenly. From the speakers came the faint sound of whispering. It wasn't loud enough to make out what was being said but it sounded important. Then the announcer appeared. _"Uh, folks." _He said. _"I'm sorry to have to announce this, but…"_ He stopped, saving the suspense. The applause stopped. Everyone listened to what was about to be said. "It has…" The announcer began. Then he sighed. The sound echoed depressingly in everyone's minds. _"There is… There is already a new champion… But it is not this challenger who has become them." _There was a sudden gasp from everyone in the arena. How had Joe not become the champion? He was the only one who'd defeated Blue. Joe's excited expression fell dramatically. He turned back to Ralph.

"Knew it was too good to be true." He whispered. Then the audience broke into angry shouting.

"Well if he's not the champion, then who is?"A man shouted. This was followed up by a chorus of "Yeah!?" The announcer was clearly struggling to find the right words to say.

_"__I believe that Blue knows who. He should be the one to tell you."_ Then the speakers switched off. Blue stepped forwards to the centre of the arena. He gestured a hand to Joe that he join him. Reluctantly Joe walked over, Ralph following close behind. They both stood at the centre of the arena, Blue looking calm, Joe looking slightly disappointed. His reason for being so was quite obvious. Blue turned to him quickly.

"Sorry, you didn't get here in time." He whispered. "But he was so powerful. He flattened my entire team. I didn't stand a chance." Joe looked at him.

"Who?" He asked. Blue did not respond. He simply winked at him and turned to the audience.

"As you just heard, a champion has already been announced." He spoke, loud enough for his voice to travel and for everyone to hear. The audience fell quiet again, listening intently. "And, as sad as it is to say, our challenger here isn't the one who has become so." He paused again. "The new champion won only two hours ago and has been waiting for a new challenger to appear and test him." He turned to Joe and gave a much sadder nod. "No." He continued. "The new champion…" He paused for suspense. "Is…"

* * *

**Who do you think the new champion is? It could be anyone. It could even be someone we've not met before. Feel free to guess who in the comments, but please don't spoil it for anyone else. Thanks for all your patience. The final chapter is all that's left now. **


	40. Chapter 40: The Champion

**Here it is, folks. The final battle with the Champion. But who is it. P.S. Please do not give away who in the comments. I won't be happy if I do see any spoilers down there. Also I hope the battle doesn't get a little too tedious. This is the longest chapter I've done yet and that's because a lot happens. I hope it ends the story well.**

**J Out**

* * *

In the dark Joe found that he was able to think. It wasn't as overwhelming or as forceful as the light. In the dark there was no light, no light at all. There was nothing pushing upon you, making you move, making you survive. Maybe that was why so many people feared it. But he never had. He never feared the darkness, whether it is of night or internal darkness of a building. Currently he was sitting in a small room with one bench, one bed and a healing machine, the kind 0f which you find in pokémon centres. It had already been used by him. Now his team were at perfect health again. But he wasn't happy. In fact he was quite annoyed. It had been twenty minute since he defeated Blue… but he had not become the champion, because some other trainer had beaten him to it. And now, thanks to Blue, he knew who. But he could have guessed who off the top of his head. He slumped forwards and held his head up with his hands as they rested on his knees from the small bench at the side of the small waiting room. Ralph sat next to him, also looking a little disappointed. They had been so excited to become champion. They had thought it impossible that they'd make it this far, but they had. Against all improbability. He had a knack for somehow doing the seemingly impossible. Maybe it was all just luck. It was said that the gods play games with the mortals. If that was true then someone was continuously rolling double sixes for him. He sighed and rubbed his head. Now all they had to do was wait till night. Once it arrived then this would all begin to be over. At Midnight the final battle arrived.

"We've come so far…" Joe said reflectively. It was still tough to take in that more than a month ago he had been at home on the farm, still living with his uncle and training his Growlithe. "Both of us." He finished. There was an invisible gesture of air between the two of them. Slowly Joe turned his eyes to Ralph next to him. He was looking back, sad kindness in his bat-like, night-vision, predator eyes. Considering his species mainly ate bugs and fruit it was tough to imagine Ralph as an actual predator. He gave a small, weak, self-conscious smile. Joe smiled back. That smile quickly faded back into his skin and away from sight. "I don't want to lose all that." He continued. There was real sadness in his voice. Not the kind he had when Sting died or Nami left but the kind that comes from the belief that it may be possible you won't succeed. Every teenager understands that feeling. "I don't want to have to give up everything that got us this far." His expression became more determined now. "I want to win this. I want to make it. I want to battle. I don't care if he's the champion. I tried so hard to make it here. I deserve this victory." Ralph nodded at him, the same determination showing on his face now. He rose up a curled wing, trying to do a high five. Joe smiled at it. It had been a long time since they last High Five'd. Slowly he raised his own hand, unclenched his fist and slapped it against Ralph's wing. The two limbs gripped each other, resulting in a masculine gripping handshake. The kind where they both grab each other's lower arm and shake from there. They shook hands. Their determined expressions smiled together. "No matter what happens out there I make the promise to be the best trainer I can." Joe said. "And do you promise to be the best pokémon you can?" He asked Ralph. Ralph nodded.

"Cro" He said. Joe smiled.

"Good." Their hands let go and fell back to their sides. They stayed looking at each other, their determined faces still gleaming from the front of their heads. "I tell you one thing." Joe added suddenly. "No matter what we're going to give him all we got. Even if we lose we won't lose easily. We'll take out all his pokémon with us. We'll show him that simply because we're friends we cannot go easy on each other. If I get the chance I'll happily take his place, no matter what. He wants a fight? He's bloody well got one coming!" He thumped his hand on the bench. "The Bastard!"

If the world worked fairly then people of no money would be the ones in charge while the posh, aristocratic, money grabbing socialites would be the ones in the gutter. However, as it is, it is not fare. How could it be fare? Fairness is an impossibility in the same way that beauty is an opinion. It is not something that actually exists. It is all a perception of reality. As a species you split things into groups to make them bearable, as well as organise them. So when Joe found out whom the real champion was he felt he had been cheated. He had gone through so much on his own journey he felt that he deserved the title. He needed to feel he deserved it. Part of the human mind tells it that it deserves a reward for hard work. That once our challenge is over there is a reward in it for us. This is why religions like Christianity survive. But if he had stopped to truly think about it he would have noted that the new champion probably had his own challenges to face. For him to get this far he'd need to keep trying. He'd need to keep fighting till he truly was the best. Was it right to push someone else of a ledge purely to take their standing place. Everyone suffers and everyone experiences. That's what the meaning of life really is. To experience. If you don't do that then you haven't lived. Even though life is tough you have to keep pressing through it. You have to keep trying. You have to learn from your mistakes. You have to never give up, no matter what happens. Keep pressing for your goals and eventually you'll achieve them. And when you do you'll feel a hundred times better about it and yourself. That was what made people champions. The title went not just to the strongest trainer, but the one who put the most effort into being so. That is why he is the current champion. But Joe also tried very hard, too. The only real difference between the two is that one got there faster.

Joe stirred awake from his long sleep after the sound of sirens finally slipped him back from the world of unconscious thoughts. He had fallen asleep on the bed in the small room after a few more minutes of preparing. When he was done he had dropped onto it like a stone. Now it was five minutes to midnight. The siren had been set off to wake him up and warn him. Wordlessly he slid of the bed. Ralph was waiting for him, trying to cover his ears from the horrible sound. He was getting more used to it now though, which was a good sign. Joe stood up, slid his hoodie on and walked past him, lifting him into the air with one hand.

"Good morning to you too." He chuckled. Ralph nodded and kicked away from his wrist, flying next to in the air. As one unit they stepped toward the large red doors. They stopped at the entrance, the doors not twitching. There was the faint sound of the audience on the other side. Joe turned back to Ralph. "Remember that move I taught you. The one where you slash the opponent with crossed poisoned wings." He told him. Ralph nodded in understand. Joe smiled. "Good." He turned back to face the door. "No matter what happens out there…" He added, not looking at Ralph. "Even if we get so badly thrashed we never battle again…. I just want you to know… I'm glad we met on that hilltop." He smiled, turning his head slightly back to his friend. "I'm glad we joined forces. I have no idea if I'd have got this far without you. Without any of you." Ralph smiled back. Then the doors began to move. They twitched and slid backwards, slowly, as If they were being pulled by two fat young elephants. A small gap appeared from between the two doors. Joe and Ralph stepped back. The doors slid further along. The audience began to applause, the sound becoming a racket in seconds. Then the doors finally stopped, tapping the side walls with a small metallic 'Tinc'. Joe and Ralph stepped forwards. This time the light in the arena was overwhelming. Once Joe finally got his sight back after what seemed like a full minute, he realised that all the stage lights were on and pointing at the arena. In fact the only ones not one were the ones that showed the opponents side of the field. A figure was standing there. No detail could be made out about them but Joe already knew who it was. He looked around. The walls were a simple white colour, as was the floor. The pitch outlines were the same circle shape except here they were cut in with black paint rather then white so they could be seen. He looked up. The roof was still a large glass dome but outside of that there was nothing but stars. The daytime had passed by. Now it was midnight, and the only light came from the half moon and the small collection of stars around it. In the stadium around the arena it was pitch black. Joe couldn't see Rocky or Winter but he knew they were watching. He knew they would always be watching.

"Crooo." Ralph grunted in mild amazement. He felt an urge to fly a circle around the arena and glide through the darkest areas. It was a crobat instinct of his to explore the dark. The last thing to appear in this final arena for this final battle was the announcer. His voice seemed calm but still excited to some extent. Either way he wasn't shouting down the microphone anymore.

_"__Wwwwwweclome back, Ladies and Gentlemen, to the Indigo League. Today we may see a new challenger crowned after all. Here we have a trainer who has valiantly yet impossibly defeated all four of the elite four on his first try, just barely holding on all the way. And as well as that we have him battling our newly crowned champion, who only just became so yesterday at around 1:30PM. But now the two off them must battle, in order to secure the position of champion. Who of them will prove to be the strongest?"_ He paused for tension. The audience cheered in excitement again. _"And now, Ladies and Gentlemen, I introduce to you, the young Pallet Town trainer and the bane of Team Rocket. Please put your hands together for our challenger, Joseph Glende!"_ The audience applauded wildly. Most of them had watched Joe's previous battles with the elite four and he'd somehow become a kind of popular figure to them. They were cheering more for him and Ralph then they had for the other well known trainers. Graciously he bowed. The cheering grew louder. Several shouts echoed around the arena. One in particular caught Joe and Ralph's ears.

"Go Joe! Go Ralph! You can do it!" A young, female voice echoed above all the other cheers. Joe stood straight again, a surprised feeling washing over him. He smiled. He recognised that voice.

"Winter?" He mused to himself. So she was watching. And she was cheering for him. Then a second, male voice followed after hers.

"Yeah! Uh, you can beat 'em! Give 'em hell" Joe smiled larger. Both Winter and Rocky were still here and still cheering for him.

"Thanks, you guys." He whispered to himself. He was grateful they believed in him. It was helping him believe in himself. He turned back to Ralph. "We can do this." He said. Ralph _grunted and nodded, smiling widely. Then the announcer returned. _

_"__And now, Ladies and Gentlemen, I give to you… our newest, but definitely not youngest, champion. Again from pallet town and the assistant to Professor Oak, this young man kept on pushing till finally he made it. He became the strongest trainer of all of Kanto."_ He paused. On the other side of the arena the stage lights began to flash on, starting with the outside lights and slowly working to the centre light, which would illuminate the opponent finally. _"Please put your hands together and give a warm welcome to our newest Champion!..."_ The final light flashed on. If Joe hadn't already known who the champion was he would have gasped. It would have seemed in possible, yet the truth was standing directly in front of him. The champion stepped forwards towards his end of the field and kept walking at a slow pace, rotating like a show top and waving at the audience. He was wearing a red leather jacket over a black plane t-shirt, dark grey jeans, a black hat and a pair of wide rimmed sunglasses on the end of his nose. Small lines of short, curly black hair poked out from under the hat and two brown eyes looked on through the sunglasses. He smiled sharply at Joe and Ralph opposite him.

"Hello old friend." Joe whispered. The champion smiled at him. The announcer's voice suddenly became the only sound audible as everything else faded away into the background.

_"__THOMAS ICARUS!"_

The two rivals stood opposing each other, standing at their respective battle points, glaring at each other, fingers ready to pull out a pokéball and release one of their pokémon. Between them pure silence. Around them pure silence. For once the crowd was no longer cheering. Even the announcer was quiet. Tom was the first to break the uncomfortable silence.

"So, here we both are." He said. His voice was not dramatic or excited or angry or jealous or spiteful or anything like what Joe may have expected. It was just a monotone. He hardly sounded like he cared what he was saying. It was clear he did, however, otherwise he wouldn't have acknowledged Joe before him. "How did you get this far so quickly?" He asked. Joe gave him a stare.

"I could ask you the same thing." He retorted. Tom smiled, though it was clearly fake.

"Simple. I used strategy and skill. I thrashed the Elite Four like that. It wasn't exactly easy but I still did it. How about you? Was it luck that got you this far?" He smirked. Joe rolled his eyes. He knew Tom could be a show of and that he did tend to get quite cocky but he'd never expected him to show off like this.

"Look you may be the champion now but that doesn't mean you're a god!" Joe snapped, a little ticked off by his attitude. "I got here the same way you did. Skill and strategy, with a little dash of luck." Tom gave a small yet audible sigh.

"Yes. And now we are here. In the arena of the champion." He held up his arms, exclaiming for the audience who gave a small clap. "I made it first so I am the new current champion. And as the new current champion my first job would be to battle my opposed." He lowered his arms again. Joe rolled his eyes.

"Just because you got here first." He told him. Tom just glared back.

"You let me go first, remember. You could have gone first and you might be the champion before me. But either way this is what has happened. And now I believe it is time for us to battle. Friend verses friend. For the right to call ourselves champion. And for the record I'll win" Joe closed his eyes and gave a pain filled sigh.

"Where do you get off?" He asked, speaking quieter than before. Tom raised an eyebrow. "Why are you acting so pompous? You're a champion, not a king! You just became one, too! Are you acting like this because you feel you can win so easily? That battle you and I had before we got here was a fluke! I've gotten a lot stronger since then, even if that was only a day ago. And who knows. Maybe I shall be the victor this time. Either way you're getting a fight and you're not going to JUST win!" He tapped a stressed out foot. Tom smile grew a little.

"You've still got that burning spirit." He noted. "Admirable. It'll be sad to see it washed away as you are defeated." Joe growled.

"Do you not get it?!" He demanded. "You're acting like a fool, Tom. You believe that purely because you are champion you are undefeatable. You're fooling yourself. If you believe that then the fall you take when you are defeated is going to be a lot steeper. You got this far, yes, but others can do so as well. I got this far two hours after you did. Christ, you've been champion a day and already you have a challenger. Surely that's a warning sign to you." Tom's smile seemed to fall a little. His sunglasses slid down his nose, showing an unsure gaze from his brown eyes. "Tom, you're my friend. That's why I'm telling you. Don't get overconfident. I want to be Champion, too, but I don't want to hurt you at the same time. I'll battle you but not if you act like that." Suddenly Tom seemed to get angry. His fists clenched and his teeth gritted.

"You want to be champion?" It was not so much a question as it was a repeating of. "You! Before you said you were going to see how far you could get! Was that just a lie to make me feel like I was special!? Like I was the stronger of the two!? Did you let me win that battle on purpose!?" Joe shook his hands.

"No. Of course I didn't. You are strong. That's not what I'm getting at…" But Joe wasn't allowed to continue. Tom was steaming angry now; enraged by the thought his friend may deny him his dreams.

"You only took this challenge so you could knock me down when I lost to you!" He screamed, small tears breaking from his eyes. "You just wanted to stop me making it! You wanted to stop me reaching my dream! Well I reached it! I became the Kanto Champion! I did it without needing friends, or rare pokémon, or even luck. I got here by myself. Just me, my skill and my team. We did it all ourselves. And then you come along. You become a trainer after I do, you know nowhere near as much as I do and you hardly even study them. You just trample over this region and somehow reach your goal faster than me. And never once do I get any respect for it. I save several hundred pokémon from a storm, help fix radars for airplane landing, supply water to people without any and teach a bunch of young kids about pokémon battles and everyone takes me for granted! You defeat team rocket and suddenly everyone treats you like a hero! I become champion and you're immediately here to take my place! What do you want from me, huh! Do you want to take my dream from me as well as everything else?!" Joe stood stunned. He'd never heard his friend say anything like this.

"Tom… I had no idea you felt like that." He said, his voice full of concern. "I never knew you were doing all that helpful stuff…"

"You never asked!" Tom butted in.

Joe gulped. "I-if you don't want to battle today I could come back another…" Tom's smile had spun around to become an ungrateful snarl.

"Like you'd care. You lost one pokémon on your battle and everyone's sorry for you! But if you'd seen the things I've gone through. Did you even stop to ask? No! I was just not important enough to you! You never asked how I was! You never asked how my research was going! You never even paid me a second glance. Am I just a tool to you, like the pokémon you carry?!" He threw his clenched fist backwards, dropping it to his side again. He exhaled, letting off steam and anger as he did so. "Well I don't care if you want to battle or not. I want to! I'm going to battle with you this one last time. And I am going to win. I will WIN! Even if you are stronger than me I shall not let go of this dream!" He reached for a pokéball.

"Tom, please…" Joe tried. The announcer interrupted him.

_"__Here we go, folks. The final battle between rivals. And it looks like it's going to be quite heated, too."_ The crowd began to clap and cheer. They were shouting chants.

"Joe! Joe! Joe! Joe! Joe!" Tom stared around. His mind couldn't take what he was hearing. They weren't cheering for him. The noise echoed through his screaming mind. **"Joe! Joe! Joe! Joe! JOE!"** He turned back to Joe who wasn't looking any happier about his name being chanted. Tom gave a small growl.

"I… **hate**… you!" He whispered. Joe felt his heart crack and shatter. His oldest friend had just said that he hated him. How was he meant to react to that? He didn't want to battle, however Tom did and there was no pulling out of a battle with the champion. He sighed and reached for his own pokéball. He had an idea on who Tom was going to send out first.

_"__Trainers, take your places!"_ The announcer's voice silenced everything. Both trainers stepped forwards. _"Let the battle… BEGIN!"_

There was no grace to the battle. It was just a game of who can defeat the opponent the quickest. And, as quick story material, it works well and saves space. Still, things need describing. Both trainers threw their pokéballs and both landed on their sides of the field, snapping open and releasing two different yet recognisable pokémon. On Tom's side: his Fearow, On Joe's side: his Pikachu, Pippy. Both pokémon glared immediately at each other. Fearow's hawk eyes were unmoving. It didn't care who the opponent was. It was going to defeat it all the same. Pippy didn't shudder or step back. Its attempt at intimidating him wouldn't work this time. Before there was even time to thing Tom began bellowing orders.

"Drill Peck!" He shouted. Fearow didn't hesitate. It flew forwards on its long wings of terror and drove its javelin shaped beak of destructing in a drilling motion down at Pippy. It folded its wings in and rotated as it dropped, spinning like a - Well, like a drill - down towards the small electric mouse. Pippy knew what to do, however. As Fearow dropped he rolled aside, evading the sharp spinning beam of the predatory bird and instead striking the ground. There was a 'tap' and then a 'Crrrack!' as its long beak struck the white floor and drilled through it. It reared back in pain, flapping wildly in the air. Small cracks were running up its beak.

"Thunderbolt!" Joe called. Pippy charged static and fired a quick but sharp bolt of electricity into the predator's side. Fearow cawed in pain and turned back to him, looking annoyed and hungrier than before. It readied to strike.

"Fury attack!" Tom called. Fearow lunged, rushing forwards using its long lanky feet to propel it along the ground. It struck out with its long neck and pecked at Pippy who backed away. The first peck hit but he managed to weave and dodge most of the others. However Fearow had spotted an opening and took it. As Pippy jumped to the left Fearow struck out with its wing and knocked him a little into the air. As the small squeaking Pikachu fell back down it struck him three times in the side, sending him sliding forwards across the ring. Painfully Pippy pushed himself back onto all fours. Fearow was standing proudly a few feet away, its wings folded up and resting against its side. The two's eyes met, predator verses prey. It was still open for either to take the winning hit.

"Double Team!" Joe called. Pippy began to split into a ring of identical images.

"Pursuit!" Tom called. Fearow suddenly shot forwards, striking Pippy directly in the chest before he could finish making the ring. It didn't even need a second to try and find the real opponent. It just attacked and hit first time. Pippy rolled backwards, his mirages fading away in puffs of smoke. He quickly jumped back to his feet however, and prepared for another attack.

"Ok, so he's got that move." Joe deduced as he tried to come up with a strategy for beating him. A couple of options popped up. He picked the middle one. "Pippy, use Substitute!" He called. Pippy nodded and dashed back a few metres. When he stopped he formed the almost realistic doll of himself and propped it in front of him, waiting for Fearow to attack.

"Fly!" Tom called. Fearow turned and launched itself high into the air, flapping its wings heavily all the way. When it was almost as high as the glass roof it stopped and turned in mid air, glaring down at the small Pikachu doll. Then it dived. Its long wings folded in, its long neck stuck out, its beak pointed forth and it plummeted like a feathered javelin down towards the unlucky victim. Then, when it was about to strike the ground, it made a 90 degree turn, suddenly shooting forwards, just above the ground. It took seconds for it to reach where Pippy was hiding and strike. Its full body drove into the doll and shattered it into dust particles instantly. Pippy, however, remained unharmed. He had jumped a second before Fearow had hit and was currently rotating in a ball above its still flying head. A second later he was on its back, grabbing its downy spin and holding on for dear life. Fearow looked back and cawed in surprise. It slowed and turned in the air, trying to shake him of. Pippy did not let go. It did a 360 degree spin backwards in the air. Still Pippy held on. Small sparks of electricity escaped from his cheeks. Fearow finally stopped flying and hovered in the air. Now that it didn't have to see where it was going it was able to look back at the opponent. Its long neck bent around and its head came into view. It suddenly, with little concern for its own health, jabbed at him. Its long beam struck forward at Pippy's paw and nipped it. His right paw slipped and let go, leaving his left to hand on for dear life. If he let go he'd fall all the way back down to the ground. Fearow attacked again but this time Pippy pushed of its back and avoided being hit. Fearow then winced in surprised pain. Its beak hit it in the spine, causing a small pointed wound to appear. When it recovered from the surprise attack it had given itself it turned back and glared at Pippy. Its wings began to flap faster and harder again. The large bird was pushing itself through the air, getting ready to fly.

"Hurry up and get that little pest off you, already!" Tom yelled, annoyed. Fearow suddenly spun in mid air, making an evasive roll which shook Pippy's grip. But still he held on. The electricity in his cheeks was getting ready to explode now. Then finally, Fearow skidded to a stop and kicked its back upwards with such force that it moved like a locking trap door. This time Pippy didn't hold on. His grip slipped and suddenly he was healing through the air, spinning head over heels like a football. But he was still sparking. Fearow smiled to itself. Now it had him. It lowered its back and flew forwards, to spear Pippy in mid air. Then there was a flash of yellow. Pippy released his static in the form of a huge lightning bolt. The spear of electricity flow forwards, needing no accuracy or no time. It hit its target dead point in the centre of its chest. Fearow suddenly screeched in pain. Its eyes widened as far as they could go and stared of into nothing. Its wings crumpled and spasm closed as the huge aerial predator fell from the sky. Pippy fell after it, unable to fly himself and now falling from very high up down towards the ground. Suddenly Fearow lashed out again. As Pippy tried to push himself through the air and towards the large bird so he could use it as a protection from the ground, Fearow's clawed food lunged out and grabbed him around the stomach. Pippy squirmed in its grip but could not get free. Fearow held its leg out over the ground as it plummeted uncontrollably, its open eyes glaring angrily at him. There was nothing either of them could do to save themselves. Quickly they fall towards the ground like a brown and yellow meteorite, only feet away from the floor now. Joe and Tom looked away as there was a surprisingly loud thud. When they turned back both pokémon were lying in an unconscious pile. Pippy was sprawled on the ground next to Fearow's clawed chicken legs. Fearow itself was lying on its side, eyes closed, one wing out underneath it, the other folded around its body, its neck curved around towards its stomach. There was a quick silence before erratic applause burst out around the room. No one really knew who was cheering for whom, as both pokémon were now unconscious. The announcer soon fixed everything up.

_"__Well, ladies and gentlemen, it appears that both pokémon have managed to knock themselves out. That means that so far this battle is a draw. It's anyone's guess who will win this fight and it is still open for both trainers. The score is now 5 Vs 5. Let's keep on watching and find out what happens next."_ Then the unseen voice of useful information disappeared back into its unseen hole. Tom was already withdrawing his Fearow and getting ready to release his second pokémon. He never took his eyes of Joe. Pure hatred was burning from them like fire from a blacksmith's oven. Wordlessly he unclipped a pokéball and threw it. Onto the field his large, fat, feast engulfing, keep-coming-back-for-seconds Snorlax plopped onto the arena floor and, somehow, made ripples in its wake as it struck. It rocked on its fat back till finally it lay sprawled out on its back… and fell asleep. Tom didn't actually seem too displeased by this. If anything he looked quite pleased by it. Joe also withdrew Pippy from the battle and reached for his second pokéball.

Then, from the other side of the arena, he heard Tom whisper. "God damn you, Joe." His hand stopped about to grab the pokéball. He looked at Tom. Small tears where sunning down his eyes. A small sigh stuck in Joe's throat. It was hard seeing his friend like that. He didn't want to fight. But he also wanted his friend to realise his attitude isn't health for him. And it's best he discovers that from a friend, rather than a stranger. Joe grabbed a pokéball and readied it. When he threw it, it spun in the air and gained height, finally snapping open and releasing the reliable and quick fighter, Carter, onto the battle field. He stretched his legs in the way he usually did before a battle, preparing to fight his now arch nemesis, Snorlax. The memory of what happened last time was still stuck in his head. This time he wasn't going to jump kick it. Battle started up again and threw a sharp upper kick on both trainers.

"Blaze Kick!" Joe called. Carter's right foot ignited and he ran forwards, swinging it in an arch behind him.

"Snore!" Tom commanded. Snorlax began to snore. But it wasn't the normal kind of snoring you'd usually hear from it. This snoring was much much much louder. It was also sharp and heavy, not only creating sound but also small Z shapes which escaped from Snorlax's opening and closing mouth. The sound echoed and thudded like rock music from a speaker on full blast. Carter reached for his unseen ears to cover them, his mind rocking and shaking with the heavy sound. His attack kept coming however and struck Snorlax in its side as it slept and snored away. The sharp kick it received in its side woke it up with a jolt. Its eyes snapped open and it pushed forwards, trying to stand up but instead rolling about on its back. Finally, after a few more kicks to the side and a few more rolls it finally managed to get to its feet. It took another half minute to finally stand up properly. Its eyes were open and angry. Most people never saw a Snorlax's eyes. That was probably a good thing. They were red and furious. They looked like something that belonged to the most evil demon in hell.

"Rollout!" Tom demanded. His voice was beginning to break. Snorlax held out its arms and… fell forwards. However when it did so it didn't merely hit the ground. Instead it rolled up into a ball and began rolling forwards, like a rampaging boulder. It gained speed as it rolled along to the other side of the arena, skidded to a stop before hitting the wall and rolling back towards Carter. He only just jumped aside in time, avoiding being crushed again by Storlax's huge body. The second time he was less luck. As he landed he suddenly found his legs pulled out from under him. He spun around in the air as Snorlax struck him in the back after turning round and sent him spinning high into the sky. Carter began to plummet again, landing neatly on both feet. He turned and saw Snorlax coming back. This time he didn't bother evading. Instead he primed back a leg and swung it forwards, hitting Snorlax and kicking it upwards into the air with amazing force. The huge fat ball spun in the air as it fell upwards, still rolling out. Then finally it stopped and spread out its body. When it hit the ground it shook insanely, knocking everyone standing on it off balance. Carter became too preoccupied by not falling over that he failed to see Snorlax rolling towards him again. He was suddenly knocked over and flattened by the sudden heavy steamroller that was Snorlax. As it passed by it left him crushed into the ground, looking at the sky and groaning in pain. Slowly Carter pushed himself into a sitting position and rubbed the back of his head.

"Flatten it!" Tom almost screamed the words. Carter suddenly looked back. Snorlax was standing behind him on both fat feet, its eyes closed again (Thank Arceus) and its arms outstretched. It gave a loud yawn and suddenly fell forwards. Carter yelled and rolled aside, narrowly avoiding being crushed for good. Snorlax's belly hit the floor and made it shake like a quake again. Carter however was already preparing to attack. He jumped into the air and jump kicked the fat bear in the side, causing it to flinch and wince. Tom growled from his side of the room. Snorlax began to roll over.

"Mega Kick!" Joe called. Carter bulled back a glowing white foot, turned to his side, raised it and kicked out. The force of the attack was so powerful it sent Snorlax rolling backwards. It hurtled in a full circle three times before finally lying out flat on its back, exhausted, about twenty feet further away than it had been. "Now Hi Jump Kick it!" Joe continued. Carter leapt into the air and primed a leg to kick. Then Tom made the most worst timed call Joe could have hoped for.

"Hyper Beam!" He yelled, furiously. Snorlax opened its mouth and white light began to glow out of it. Joe, Ralph and Carter's eyes widened in fear. They could all predict what was coming next. Carter however had no way of avoiding it. He was falling through the air. There was nothing he could do to defend himself as Snorlax's mouth opened fully and a huge, burning beam of bright white energy was released from within. The beam struck Carter full in the face and knocked him backwards out of the sky. He hit the ground with a painful thud, lying sprawled out and unable to move yet still conscious. The huge blue and white form of Snorlax came into view standing over him. His eyes widened. If he could have talked he would have said something like 'Oh no!' "Crush It!" Tom roared. Snorlax fell forwards. Carter held up his arms in a futile defence. Snorlax plummeted. Its huge bulk landed on Carters palms and pushed against his wrists. To everyone's surprise, however, it did not crush him. There was a surprised gasp from the audience. Carter opened one eye and looked forwards. Snorlax was still resting against his arms, asleep. Somehow he was able to hold it up without its weight crushing him. He chuckled and pushed. Snorlax moved back. He freed a leg and began pushing with that, too. Snorlax moved further. He freed his other get and gave an almighty kick. Snorlax rolled over. Its huge body thudded on the ground as it snored peacefully. The battle wasn't over yet, however. Snorlax was still conscious, if asleep. And Carter was still standing. The fight needed to be finished.

"Mega Kick!" Joe called. Carter nodded and began walking backwards, readying for a run up. He stopped about twenty metres further away and readied to run. At the same time Snorlax woke up again.

"Rollout!" Tom called. Snorlax rolled up into a ball and began rotating on the spot. Then both pokémon charged. They sped towards each other like unstoppable particles of light. Like planets caught in the same gravitational pulse. Carter jumped and kicked out with a leg. Snorlax rolled forwards at incredible speed. Then they both struck. There was a small implosion of energy and, when it faded, both Pokémon went flying backwards. Carter landed unconscious on the floor by Joe's feet. Snorlax struck the floor like a large, fatty bomb and lay there motionless, neither sleeping nor conscious. The audience gasped in amazement and cheered again. It was surprising how easy it was to please these people. So far neither trainer was winning yet they seemed to love the show they were giving either way. Joe and Tom withdrew Carter and Snorlax. It seemed their vendetta against each other was over for now. Both trainers reached for their third pokéballs.

"_Again, Folks, it looks like both trainers are at an impasse of skill and power. Both their pokémon have knocked each other out again, if that is even possible. Oh, who will take the first true victory here? I imagine we'll soon find out!"_ The announcer called out, causing the audience to clap harder and cheer louder. They were going mad. This was the first Champion battle they had seen in ages since the last Champion left and they were all too excited to choose a side. They simply wanted to see someone gain the title for more than a day. Joe unclipped his third pokéball and released it. Tom did the same a second later. On the field Sirena the lapras popped out, floating elegantly upon a small pool of water she had created. On tom's side of the field his Victreebel was setting up already.

"Stockpile!" He called. Victreebel seemingly began to store up energy inside its huge, ugly, top-heavy mouth. Its stomach seemed to grow a little, as well. "Again!" Tom called. Victreebel did the same thing again. It stored up energy inside itself and its stomach expanded slightly.

"Ice Beam!" Joe called. Sirena readied an ice beam and fired it. The small thread of ice struck Victreebel in its bell shaped body. The attack didn't seem to do much to it, however. Victreebel shook the small pieces of ice of its large body and readied its own attack.

"Solarbeam!" Tom called. Victreebel began charging light!

"Quickly, Sirena. Use Psychic and take it out!" Joe commanded. Sirena fired a large sphere of psychic energy. The attack struck Victreebel full on but it did not stop its attack. The large beam of green light shot from its lowered mouth and struck Sirena square in the chest, engulfing her in bright light. When the light faded, however, she was still standing - or rather floating - where she had been. Her expression was that of annoyance. Victreebel looked surprised that she was still alive. "Now, use Strength!" Joe continued. Sirena slid across the floor, her pool of water following under her. She slid across the ground and rammed Victreebel over with her full body force. The large bell plant rocked back and forth, its eyes rolling. When it finally got its balance back it glared at Sirena who was now sliding back to her end of the field.

"Swallow!" Tom called. Victreebel gulped, sucking down all the spare energy it had built up over time. It suddenly seemed to look a lot healthier than it had been. It seemed it had turned that energy into health. Sirena narrowed her eyes. That was an annoying trick to have. Tom was smiling to himself. "You'll have to try a bit harder than that to take me out." He said. Joe rolled his eyes. "Now, Victreebel, stockpile again!" Tom continued. Victreebel began to swell up again as it stored energy in its body.

"Strength again!" Joe called. Sirena slid forwards to attack.

"Spit Up!" Tom commanded. Victreebel suddenly began to swell larger. Its stomach and mouth stretched and inflated. Then, suddenly, it retched. A huge ball of multicoloured energy came flying out of its mouth, along with a small trail of stomach acid, and flew towards the attacking Sirena. The ball of energy hit her on the head and shattered into random colours. Sirena winced in pain and slowed. The attack had taken her by surprise and done some real damage to her. However she was still going to attack, and now that it had used up its stockpiles it was vulnerable.

"Ice Beam it, then use strength!" Joe called to her. He saw the advantage he could take. Sirena reared her head and fired a thin beam of ice out of her beaked mouth. The beam hit Victreebel and this time it froze it solid. The large fly trap plant sat motionless, eyes open, staring out at Sirena as a small ice sculpture as she began to charge again. This time there was nothing it could do to stop her. All it could do was watch as she sped forwards and rammed it in the chest. The ice shattered and Victreebel fell backwards. If it was conscious it would have shivered. But because it wasn't, it didn't. The crowd cheered again. Tom stood a little surprised but mainly annoyed. He glared at Joe.

_"__Finally, folks! One of our fighters has managed to knock out the opponent's pokémon without losing their own. The score now is 4 Vs 3 but the game is still open for anyone to take."_ The announcer's voice echoed through every mind as the audience got animated and began clapping louder. Cheers started up again. They were for Joe's team. Tom growled at him.

"You're still trying to ruin me." He muttered, coldly. "You still want to destroy my dream!" Joe shook his head.

"No. Why would I _want_ to do that? I just want you to stop this overacting. You're only going to hurt yourself." Joe pleaded but Tom wasn't listening. He withdrew Victreebel and reached for his forth pokéball.

"STOP LYING TO ME!" He screamed suddenly. The crowd fell deadly silent. Everyone was surprised by Tom's sudden outburst. He was furious. Uncontrollably so. He was so set upon the idea that Joe was there to destroy everything he'd worked for. "WHY CAN'T YOU JUST LEAVE ME BE?! WHY CAN'T YOU JUST LET ME BE THE CHAMPION FOR ONE DAY?! ONE &amp;*%ing DAY!" Thankfully the announcer had been on standby to use that sound effect and sensor out any swearing that may be used in any of the battles. Furious tears escaped from Tom's eyes now. Nothing Joe could do would calm him down. "YOU… YOU JUST WANT TO DESTROY EVERYTHING I TRY AND DO! IT LIKE IT GETS YOU OFF OR SOMETHING! YOU DIDN'T EVEN WANT TO BECOME THE CHAMPION BEFORE I SAID I WANTED TO! WHY CAN'T YOU JUST LEAVE ME ALONE?!" His words didn't sound like his own anymore. What had Joe done to deserve this kind of response?

"Tom… I don't understand." He tried. "What happened to you?" Tom didn't respond. Only tears poured from his eyes and a small whimper escaped from his mouth.

"I just..." He tried to say but his voice caught upon itself. He coughed. "I… wanted to be the champion… so badly. It was my childhood dream. Ever since I was a toddler I've wanted it. And I nearly made it. I could stay as the champion if I defeated you…" He glared at Joe again. "But you'd never let me. You're too stuck up that way." He stood up straight, wiping his eyes and continuing to glare at Joe. Then, suddenly and seemingly out of nowhere, he began to sing.

_"__# I want to be… the very best… like no one ever was. #" _

The words were from a TV show they had both watched from their childhood. It follows a young trainer and his journey around Kanto, along with his friends and pokémon. It seemed like forever ago since he'd heard it.

_"__# To catch them is my real test… #" _

The sound echoed around the arena and touched a hundred hearts. Then, also out of nowhere, someone in the audience joined in.

_"__# To train them is my cause! #"_

Then more people joined in, forming a choir just randomly.

_"__# I will battle across the land… searching far and wide. #"_

Joe looked around in amazement. What was happening? Somehow his oldest friend had inspired everyone into singing. He didn't even know that was possible. In his own mind the chorus began to repeat. _'# Pokémon! Gotta catch 'em all! #'_ He found himself tapping his foot to the tune. Sirena was lulling away with the singing, creating a quite nice melody to play with it. Tom was just standing, staring at the crowd. He had no idea that his depressed singing could make people react like this. He never expected them to sing along. The entire audience was singing now. Every single one of them, even the announcer, although he had also put the original soundtrack from the song on as well so people could keep tune. Suddenly he felt hope inside of him. Hope that he could win. Hope that he stood a chance at winning. He smiled to himself as the verse continued on.

_"__# Pokémon!.. It's you and me!... I know it's our destiny! #"_

Tom reached for his fourth pokéball. "You know what, Joe." He said, his hand gripping the tool like a grenade. "You want to be the champion? You've got it! But I'm not giving it away just like that. You're going to have to totally destroy me and my team. Only then am I ever giving up my seat here!"

_"__# Pokémon!... Oh, you're my best friend… In a world we must defend! #"_

Joe sighed sadly. He didn't really want to destroy his friends dream but if he wanted to battle then he didn't want to deny him either. If it would make him feel better he would battle him. "Alright." He said, sadly. "I'll battle you." Tom smiled, evilly.

"Good." He said and released his fourth pokéball. Magmar appeared, smoke flowing from its mouth. "Magmar, flame it!" Tom bellowed. Magmar ran at Sirena and coated her in melting fire. She yelped as it tickled her skin but she resisted most of it.

_"__# Pokémon!... Our hearts are true!... Our courage will pull us through! #"_

"Sirena, Surf!" Joe called. Sirena rose upwards on a sudden watery wave. However Tom had been ready for a move like this.

"Thunderpunch!" He instructed. Magmar ran forwards towards the readying wave, a pulled back sparking fist ready to strike.

_"__# You teach me and I'll teach you! #"_

Magmar struck the wave with its static sparking claw and electricity shot into it. It sparked up the watery wall and hit Sirena, shocking her and causing her attack to fail.

_"__# PO-Ké-MON! #" _

The wave collapsed in on itself and slowly Sirena drifted to the floor, her head sagging forwards. Her eyes were closed and she was breathing heavily. Joe withdrew her as the song finished. Tom was smiling widely now. It looked like he was happy but it was not easy to tell. It could have been a smile on the verge of madness. He began to laugh suddenly.

"Now I can win!" He called out loud. The audience didn't clap or cheer. They were a bit too tired after singing a whole chorus. The announcer wasn't tired enough to not commentate, however.

_"__Look at that, folks. Our new champion had managed to pull himself back into the game with his Magmar. Now it's back to an even fight. 3 Vs 3. But who will win and take the title of League Champion."_ Joe reached for his third pokéball.

"It's time to shine, Pitt!" He yelled as he threw the pokéball. The audience gave a tired gasp. They knew that a grass type going up against a fire type was strategically suicide. If just one of Magmar's attacks hit then Pitt would be out instantly. Joe had a tactic down, however, which would help him win this battle. Tom scoffed.

"Venusaur? Really? That's what you're going to use to take out Magmar?" He threw out a pointing finger. "Magmar, set up with sunny day!" Magmar fired a small ball of fire up into the sky where it hovered above the arena, making a lot brighter and a lot hotter. Joe smiled.

"Thanks for helping me set up, too." He said cunningly and raised his own finger. "Pitt, use Solarbeam! Aim for its chest!" Pitt hardly needed any time to gather energy. He did it in a split second. His flower glowed and then faded away as the solar energy formed in his mouth. It lit up bright green and suddenly a Solarbeam erupted from within. It struck Magmar square in the chest before it could react and knocked it over onto its back. The beam faded away again and Pitt stomped a foot, rebelliously. Magmar pushed itself back onto its feet and glared at Pitt. A small waft of smoke escaped its nostrils.

"Fire Blast!" Tom called. Magmar fired a blazing star of flame at Pitt.

"Protect!" Joe called quickly. A green energy shield formed before Pitt and took the fire blast, blocking him from taking damage. Tom growled and clenched his fists.

"That's a dirty trick!" He growled. Joe shook his head.

"No trick." He smiled. "Just strategy." Pitt roared in agreement. Magmar flared in annoyance. Tom's growl grew to a roar.

"Thunderpunch!"

"Tackle!" Both pokémon charged attack. Magmar was knocked back and raised up slightly as Pitt rammed it in the chest. Pitt was shocked and shook painfully as Magmar's sparking fist struck him in the back. Both pokémon stumbled backwards, suffering injuries from the attacks. Then Pitt's skin on his shoulder turned red. He winced as that area burned up and began to hurt. He tried to lick the area to cool it down but couldn't reach. Joe cursed. Damn thing had burned him. Pitt looked like he was weaker but he was still willing to fight. He roared, quieter this time, but still trying to seem intimidating. Magmar puffed a small flame, happily.

"Flamethrower!" Tom called. Magmar ran forwards, fire spewing from its small mouth.

"Protect!" Joe called. The green shield reappeared and Magmar's fire bounced of it weakly. Pitt seemed to be doing alright. Then, suddenly he flinched and his leg seized up. The protect shield fell just as Magmar's attack faded. A small cluster of flames made it through and hit him, causing some serious damage. He exclaimed in pokéspeech and fell onto that leg, feeling sick and weak. "No, Pitt." Joe called. He wanted to go to him but couldn't. The rules of the battle denied him the ability to physically help any of his pokémon. Magmar was smirking to itself. It believed that it had Pitt defeated.

"Get ready to finish it!" Tom told it. Magmar huffed. Pitt stood up slowly, getting back to all fours. He stood defiantly glaring at Magmar, waiting for it to make a move. While he did so he shifted all his weight onto his back legs, preparing to stand up. Then the command came. "Fire Blast." Magmar fired and Pitt reared up. The five pointed star inferno sailed through the air and struck Pitt in the stomach. He winced and feel forwards again, week. All his weight shifted into his front legs. When he struck the ground the entire building shook. The ground around Pitt cracked and the cracks spread up the room. Huge lumps of rock burst through it, hitting Magmar and everything else in the arena. The quake kept going and going, getting stronger and stronger as its magnitude grew in power. Magmar took a huge rock to the chest and finally fell backwards, crushed under the pile of earth. Both trainers stood mouths open. Both pokémon lay unconscious on their side of the field. The audience burst into excited cheers again. This was truly an amazing fight between friends. The announcer even perked up to speak again.

_"__Again both of our trainer's pokémon have been knocked out at the same time. That's the third time so far this battle. Now both our challengers have only two pokémon left. This is now a 2 Vs 2 Battle, ladies and gents. And still it is anyone's game. Who will take the winning?"_ Tom withdrew Magmar and the pile of rubble collapsed. Joe withdrew Pitt and reached for one of his last two pokéballs. Both trainers stood glancing at each other, their hands ready to grab their balls (Pokéballs, you dirty minder *$%ers!) Then they snagged them and threw them.

"Go, Cinders!" Joe called.

"Go, Blastoise!" Tom called. Both fully evolved starter pokémon appeared on the field, roaring and bellowing fire and water. Cinders glared dramatically at Blastoise. Blastoise glared back with a much more serious expression. Then the battle began.

"Set up with Rain Dance!" Tom instructed. Blastoise didn't even need to move for this one. It simply aimed a cannon at the air and fired a small ball of water into the sky. It erupted into a black rain cloud and small water droplets fell out of the sky. At the same time Magmar's sunny day was extinguished into nothing. Cinders snorted as a small drop of rain hit the tip of his nose, blowing it off with an exhale of breath and a shake of his head. More droplets landed on him. He growled in annoyance.

"Cinders." Joe called. The great fire dragon looked back at him. "Steel Claw!" Cinders smiled and turned. He raised a shining claw and roared fire. Then he charged, bringing the glistening silver claw down towards Blastoise's head.

"Protect!" Tom called suddenly. Cinders was surprised to find that his claw suddenly bounced backwards in mid plummet. He yelled in surprise and saw the large green shield standing between him and Blastoise, blocking his way. Behind it Blastoise was laughing. Cinders growled angrily. He pulled back his head and breathed a plume of fire onto the shield. Suddenly it popped out of existence and he was struck in the mouth by a hydro pump. The attack pushed him back across the arena, washing him away from Blastoise. When it stopped he wiped off the water and roared again.

"Fly!" Joe called. Cinders took to the air now, a trail of smoke following him. Blastoise watched him keenly, its cannons focused on him as he circled around above it.

"Strike it down!" Tom called. Then Blastoise fired. Two hydro pumps shot from its cannons at the same time, hitting two separate points of air. One shot flew at Cinders right wing; the other aimed for the left side of his face. Cinders however evaded there attacks perfectly, spinning around and folding in his wings. Rain drops fell onto his back as he flew through the air and under the rain cloud. Then he flew in to attack, speeding like a missile. He struck Blastoise's shell and kept on flying, shooting back up into the air. Blastoise exclaimed and winced in pain, glancing back at the escaping dragon. Cinders hovered beside it high in the air, looking down at the overgrown tortoise.

"Hit it again!" Joe called. Cinders dived down to strike.

"Protect!" Tom called at the last second. Before cinders had time to even see it he struck the green force field head on, his body following soon after it. He lay against the shield, his face surprised and filled with pain as; slowly he began to slide down it. Blastoise was visibly and audibly cackling now. It could hardly help itself. Cinders looked up at it from his position on the ground and growled, louder than before. The shield faded away. Now was his chance to strike. He jumped to his feet in a flash and swiped a glowing purple-blue claw down towards Blastoise's head. Blastoise's head, however, suddenly disappeared back down into its shell, avoiding the attack. Cinders' expression went from furious to confused in a split second. Curiously, he leaned forwards and looked into the pitch black hole. That was the worst thing he could have done. The second he did so Blastoise's head reappeared out, striking him in the side of the head. Cinders stumbled backwards, holding his face in pain.

"Look out!" Joe cried, seeing Blastoise aiming its cannons.

"Now, while it's not looking! Strike him down!" Tom called. Blastoise fired. Huge jets of torrential water flew out of its cannons towards Cinder's back. Cinders turned… and then there was fire. A huge flamethrower escaped from his large jaws, somehow holding the water back. It didn't just hold it back in fact. It boiled it. Slowly he began to step forwards, billowing fire from his maw and pushing Blastoise back. The large turtle pokémon suddenly became fearful. It couldn't step back, however, or its attack would stop or miss. Cinders kept pushing, no water getting past his fiery wall. Soon he was right in front of his target. He glared down at Blastoise through his flames. Blastoise kept up its attack, yelling in both fear and fury. Then Cinders lunged. He bit down right on Blastoise's head, locking his huge jaws around it and still breathing fire. Blastoise's water cannon's stopped gushing as it kicked and punched, trying to break free. Then finally it stopped. Cinders stopped flamethrowering and let go. Blastoise's face had gone completely charred black. It coughed, rocked and fell backwards onto its shell… and stayed there. Cinders was breathing heavily from pain and exhaustion. But he still had enough strength to give his most almighty roar yet. The crowd roared with him. Everyone burst into cheering and clapping. They had never seen a charizard do that before. They thought he didn't stand a chance at winning that one. Joe clapped as well.

"Bloody hell, buddy." He muttered, smiling to himself. Cinders gave a meek bow, acting like what he had done was nothing at all. Tom withdrew Blastoise. He looked bloodshot, tired, extinguished, defeated, angry, stressed and confused. But he was still fighting. And he still had one pokémon. He quietly withdrew Blastoise and turned his back to Joe.

"Ok. You did it. I'm down to my last pokémon." He announced. The audience feel quiet. "And, as they say, 'It's down to 2 Vs 1 and there's no chance for the new champ' But I've still got one pokémon left." He unclipped the pokéball. "And he's still got the power to destroy all your team." He threw the pokéball. Onto the battlefield appeared the tall, knowledgeable yellow and brown form Alakazam, holding a spoon in each hand. According to Tom their names were 'Nickel' and 'Aluminium'. You could tell the difference because Nickel was the one in the left hand and Aluminium was the one in the right hand. Alakazam opened its eyes and dropped its feet back down to stand. It stared deadeyed at Cinders who was clearly suffering from exhaustion already. "And let's make sure this battle is quick, shall we." Tom continued. Then he raised a finger. "Alakazam, Calm Mind!" Alakazam shut its eyes and focused its mind. When it opened them again Cinders was lifted off the floor and sent flying backwards, screaming and billowing smoke all the way. He didn't stop till his back hit the far wall and he slid down to the floor, unconscious. The crowd burst into cheering again. This was it! The last pokémon on each side.

_"__And here we are, folks. 1 Vs 1. Both trainers have only one pokémon left. It's neck and neck. Who will win? Who can win? Does Crobat stand a chance against Alakazam's psychic attacks? Does alakazam have the speed to keep up with Crobat's quick strikes? All will be revealed soon enough!"_ The announcer disappeared for the last time during the battle. Now this was it. This was the end.

Ralph took up position on the field after Cinders was withdrawn. He flew above the ground, fluttering slowly like a flower on the wind. A very bat like purple flower. Alakazam continued to stare at him. Its gaze didn't really have a suitable word to describe it. It was like an arrow. Once it was aimed at you, you needed to move out of the way before it struck. What it was thinking no one could have really known. Ralph glared back, looking determined. He had gotten this far and, for Joe; he was going to win, no matter what Alakazam threw at him. Joe made the first command.

"Fly!" He called. Ralph shot into the air and dive bombed towards Alakazam.

"Future sight!" Tom instructed. Alakazam's eye flashed and then stopped. Ralph seemed a little confused by what it had done but he kept up his attack. He sped forwards and struck Alakazam in the side of the chest, knocking it aside. It glared at him as he kept on flying, turning around and stopping in mid air to glare at him.

"Cross Poison!" Joe called. Ralph's wings glowed purple and he flew forwards, shaped into an X form. He struck again, slashing Alakazam in the chest. For some reason it wasn't fighting back. Instead it was merely watching him like a sentry watches an approaching soldier. "What's it doing?" Joe wondered to himself. Ralph also seemed a little confused by why it wasn't fighting back. Then Tom finally made another command.

"Recover!" He yelled. Alakazam lifted Nickel into the air and held it there. Light began to flow from the small spoon's handle and down into Alakazam's arm, through its chest and into its heart. Suddenly it looked stronger. Much stronger and a lot healthier. It lowered its hands and tapped the two spoons together. Nickel and Aluminium complained. Ralph's eyes grew larger, realising its set strategy. Before he could turn to see the attack that had just appeared behind him, it struck him in the side, sending him spinning around in the air. He rotated like a falling Frisbee and fell a few feet before finally catching the air and stopping himself in mid fall. The future sight attack had hit successfully. Alakazam was smiling behind its poker face. "Good work!" Tom called. Alakazam bowed slightly. Ralph glowered at the psychic pokémon. He'd never liked Alakazam; even back when it was an abra it had been annoying. But now it was a fully grown alakazam and it had a huge amount of power to prove so. Tom straightened his hat made a new command. "Psychic!" The words were like the command for a firing squad. A huge sphere of psychic energy shot out from Nickel and Aluminium and sped straight towards Ralph.

"Look out!" Joe called. Ralph saw them coming did a rolling back flip, flying up and to the right, narrowly avoiding the attack.

"Again!" Tom called. Alakazam fired again. Again Ralph evaded it.

"Steel wing it!" Joe called. Ralph sped forwards and struck Alakazam in the chest with a silvery wing while it was readying another attack. It winced and stopped, glaring at Ralph who was beginning to turn around to attack again.

"Future Sight!" Tom called. Ralph groaned annoyed as Alakazam's eye flashed. He was going to have to watch out for another one of those attacks popping up at some point.

"Confuse Ray!" Joe called. Ralph let out a small ghostly dot from his mouth which flew towards Alakazam and began to spin around it. Alakazam didn't move. Its eyes followed the small balls movements but its body didn't. Suddenly it began to rock on its feet as its eyes couldn't keep up with the little ball. It stopped, its eyes constantly spinning. The ball vanished in a puff of smoke. Alakazam looked completely befuddles. It rocked from foot to foot, unable to stay balanced.

"Use Psychic!" Tom called, more angrily. He was so close to winning. He wanted it so desperately. Alakazam fired a blind psychic which hit the wall next to Tom. "Not at Me!" He snapped angrily. "At Ralph!" He pointed upwards. Alakazam followed his pointing up. Ralph was flying above, getting ready to strike again. "Now snap out of it and try again!" Tom continued to shout. Alakazam raised Aluminium up and fired in the acquired vicinity. Ralph rolled aside, avoiding the blind psychic.

"Cross Poison!" Joe instructed. Ralph dived, his wings shaped into an X position. Alakazam fired again, this time missing completely. Ralph smiled. He had him now. Suddenly there was a metaphysical sloshing sound behind him. He glanced back. A huge wall of psychic energy was speeding towards him like a rampaging locomotive. He barely had time to react before the future sight hit him in the back and knocked him out of the air. "Ralph!" Joe exclaimed as his friend fell from the sky. Alakazam suddenly snapped out of confusion and spotted the falling crobat plummeting through the sky towards it, uncontrollably. It raised Nickel. "NO!" Joe exclaimed, reaching out futilely to grab Ralph.

"Strike now!" Tom yelled, his face breaking into extreme hope and furious excitement. He wanted Ralph dead! Alakazam fired. The psychic flew forwards and struck Ralph in the side. His wings crumpled, his mouth opened and he fell, no longer diving or plummeting but now simply falling to the ground. He hit with a painful thud and lay slumped out on the ground. His wings were spread. His face was buried into the plastic. He winced and moved his head. Alakazam was walking up to him. It held out a spoon towards him, glowing pink. Ralph exhaled painfully. Joe looked ruined. Tom couldn't believe his luck. He had won after all.

"No…" Joe gasped, unable to believe what had happened. "No…!" Tom began to laugh.

"I did it!" He exclaimed. He cackled madly and punched his knuckles together. "I can't believe it! I defeated you! Nyahahaha! I said I would! Who's crap now, huh! WHO'S CRAP NOW!" Ralph shuffled and Alakazam stood on his wing. He yelled in pain. Tom looked down at the trodden bat and sighed. "Oh, yeah." He realised. "I've still got to knock him out, haven't I?" His gaze met with Alakazam's. "Finish hi…" He was about to make the final command when suddenly there was an ear splitting screeching cry. Ralph was screaming right in Alakazam's unprotected ear. It winced and stepped off him. Now Ralph had a chance to get back up. He moved his head and bit down hard on Alakazam's ankle. The psychic pokémon exclaimed in pain. "Wha…?" Tom managed, his ears aching from the screech. Suddenly Ralph was in the air again. His wing slashed down on Alakazam's chest, knocking it back. Another wing glowed silver and struck it in the stomach. Alakazam wheezed in pain. Then all four of Ralph's wings glowed purple. It pulled them back. Alakazam looked up. And then… it was over. Alakazam fell backwards, open eyed, open mouthed and KO'd.

There was a long, drawn out, stunned silence. Then… uproar! The entire room burst into sudden screaming of excitement. Everyone clapped so hard their hands began to crack and shatter. They cheered so loudly that their voice boxes began to fall apart. They raised fists to the air in respect. Joe was standing open mouthed. He had done it. He had beaten the champion. He had become the champion. He looked at the audience. Immediately he spotted Winter and Rocky standing near the front row, waving and cheering for him. He smiled and turned to Ralph who was flying back to his side. They stood in front of each other for a few seconds before, together, they reached out and hugged. The two close friends held each other close, glad that they had made it together, with each other.

"We did it, Ralph!" Joe laughed, small tears falling down his eyes. "We won!" Ralph laughed and cawed in response. Joe patted his back. "Yeah, bud. You did good, too." Ralph smiled. Everyone was going mad. Their cheers were so loud that it made the glass roof shake. Then the announcer's voice boomed around.

_"__I don't believe it, Ladies and Gentlemen. We came here today to see the crowning of a champion and I do believe we have ourselves that Champion. Both trainers defeated the Elite Four but only one could make it. And his name… Is Joseph Glende." _The crowd screamed their approval. Joe waved at them. Then his gaze caught on Tom standing at the opposite side of the room. He was holding Alakazam's pokéball, rolling it over in his hand and looking down at it, disappointedly. He had withdrawn Alakazam already and now he was just standing, looking sorry for himself. From this side of the room Joe could hear Tom whisper something.

"I guess it wasn't to be." He said, looking down at the floor. A small tear fell from his eyes and he turned away, facing the wall and not the audience. Joe felt his heart sink. What had he done? He'd taken his friend's dreams away from him. He hadn't even thought twice when it came to winning. He'd just taken it, completely forgetting what his friend had said. He looked at his hand. Ralph's pokéball was gripped in it. He looked at Ralph who could see the concern in his face. He nudged Joe's shoulder to see if he was ok. Joe didn't respond. He hardly even noticed. Without looking up he spoke.

"What have I done, Ralph?" He asked, finally turning to look at his friend. Ralph seemed confused by what he'd said.

_"__Now all that is left is to place the metaphorical crown upon our new champion's head."_ The announcer continued. The crowd cheered again. _"And so, it gives me great pleasure and pride to announce… that… the newest champion of the Kanto League… Is…" _

Joe's mind shut down for a few seconds. He felt his mind being sucked into darkness. He was coming to realise just how much of a bastard he was. He had all the friends. He had the rare pokémon. He had the strong pokémon. Unwillingly he had stolen away any form of gratitude Tom could have been given simply by knowing him. He had made a big deal out of everything that happened to him, never once checking to see if his oldest friend was doing well. What was wrong with him? Why couldn't he see that before it was too late? Was he really that stupid? Was he really that bad a friend? He looked up. Tom was standing with his back to him, his head in his hands, sobbing quietly. Joe felt angry now. At himself. If he couldn't apologise for the pain he had caused, he could at least set it right. Suddenly he held up his arms and shouted.

"STOP!" All eyes turned to him. Everyone stopped talking, even the announcer. Tom turned and looked back, surprised to hear the speech interrupted. Joe walked up to the centre of the arena and lowered his arm, breathing heavily. He knew what he had to do. "I…" He began, and then stopped, trying to think what to say. "I… I don't deserve to be the champion." He said simply. There was a gasp. This was an unheard of reaction from any trainer or any champion. No one would've given up this opportunity, not for all the money in the world or the world itself. Joe looked up at their stunned faces. The only one who actually didn't seem stunned was Winter. She was smiling slightly. She seemed to understand what he was doing. "That's right." Joe continued. "I don't deserve to be champion and I don't want to be the champion." He turned to Tom and smiled. "But I know someone who does." Tom's expression suddenly became hopeful. He sniffed and smiled back, wiping a tear away.

"R-really?" Tom asked, weakly. Joe nodded.

"You see, me and Tom have been close friends for years. Ever since we were kids, in fact." He explained, looking back to the audience. "Both of us loved pokémon… but it was his dream to become the champion, not mine. And if I hadn't come here today to fight the elite four then maybe he'd have reached it." He gestured that Tom join him. Slowly his old friend walked up to him and stood by his side. Joe patted him on the back. "And so, as his friend, I don't want to take it away from him for my own personal gain. I want Tom to be made champion, not me. He deserves it more than I do." The crowd was speechless. The Announcer was speechless. Tom was speechless. Then finally, it was broken by a surprising voice.

"That is a very noble thing to do." The elderly voice came from the now open entrance behind Joe. He, Tom and Ralph turned to see Professor Oak watching from the doorway, a smile on his lips. "Never before have I seen anyone do that for a friend."

"No. I certainly remember that Red didn't do that for me." The younger form of Blue walked up beside him from out of the shadows. He was smiling as well. Behind him the other members of the Elite Four appeared. "But then again, we were both hotheads back then. It's good to see that the times are changing and that the people are becoming more conscious of one another's dreams."

"You both had amazing strength and shattered me easily. Both of you deserved this title." Lorelei said.

"And you knocked me over with a swift and exciting battle. I knew then you both stood a solid chance for success." Bruno said.

"And you withstood my unearthly ghost techniques. If you can do that then you can become true champions. "Agatha said.

"But still there must be one Champion." Blue finished. Joe and Tom looked at each other.

"And it was going to be you, Joe. You and Ralph are an amazing team and you show true care, skill and power between you. The bond that you share is truly marvellous." Professor Oak explained. "However, after watching the speech you gave and after having a quick conversation with my grandson here…" He nudged Blue. "I believe that it is only right to give the title to Thomas." Tom gasped, stunned.

"Are you serious?" He asked, hardly able to control his excitement. Professor Oak nodded.

"Yes." He said simply. "Congratulations, Tom. By the power invested in me for this specific occasion; I do title you the new Champion of the Indigo League." Tom squealed in excitement and suddenly, unwittingly, hugged Joe tight.

"Thank you! ThankyouThankyouThankyouThankyouThankyouThankyouThankyou…!" Joe gasped as he was crushed by Tom's arms.

"Ok, ok." He wheezed, trying to break Tom off. "Let's not get too overexcited, though." Tom wasn't listening. His mind was racing with excitement. He jumped from foot to foot.

"I just can't believe it!" He yelled. "I'm the champion! I'm the Champs! Thank you so much, Joe! Thank you!" Joe smiled and shrugged.

"It's alright." He said, humbly. "You'd have done the same for me."

"No I bloody wouldn't!" Tom retorted, cackling madly and still jumping about. Joe's face fell. He hadn't expected that kind of a response. Ralph laughed and Joe nudged him in an order to stop it.

_"__Well, um…"_ The announcer tried to think up what to say. _"I guess that's it then, folks. We have ourselves a new champion. Please put your hands together for the newest champion in two years. Thomas Icarus!"_The crowd went wild. Everyone clapped and wailed and cheered and called and whistled and went berserk. Tom was crying with happiness now. Joe stood to the side, watching him bathe in their admiration.

"Well done, pall." He whispered, smiling as he watched his friend showing off. "I knew you could do it."  
"There is one last thing I wish to talk to you about, Joe." Professor Oak added, putting his hand on Joe's shoulder. "It's a personal thing involving anyone who defeats the elite four."

"What sort of thing? Joe asked.

"Oh, it's nothing to worry about. It won't take long. I just need to take down a record of the event." Prof Oak explained. Joe glanced at the seats where Winter and Rocky were sitting.

"It's ok." Blue told him, following his gaze. "When you're done you can meet back up with your friends and family in the lobby. I'm sure they'll all want to say congratulations." Joe sighed.

"All right."

Professor Oak took him through a hall way at the opposite end of the arena, through a set of dark grey doors. The doors swung open and they walked into a long hallway. The floor was a shiny green and the walls were blue with light purple stripes. There was a row of pillars running down each side of the hall. At the far end was a small machine plugged into a pokémon centre healing case. Professor Oak walked Joe up to it and slid the top open.

"I trust you understand that you got this far by yourself, right." Professor Oak explained. "You are the one who pushed yourself to get here. You and your pokémon, of course." He turned to the machine now. "And as a remembrance of your success in defeating the Indigo league I would like to register you and your team into the hall of fame's memory banks." Joe looked quite surprised.

"We'll be hall of famers?" Joe asked. Professor Oak nodded.

"So go ahead. If you plug in your pokedex and place all six of you're pokémon's pokéballs into the machine I can take down a record of who, when, where, with who and how." Professor Oak nodded towards the machine again. It looked so welcoming.

"And Tom really is the champion now?" Joe asked. Professor Oak nodded. Joe sighed and took his pokedex and all six of his pokéballs out of his bag. "Here' goes." He said. And he put all of the specific objects on their specific points. The machine flash and images began appearing on the screen above it. It read: 'Congratulations, champion: Joseph Glende of Platte Town'. Underneath that was an image of each of his pokémon, including Ralph right at the front. Under that were their species, nickname, type and gender as well as when and where they were first met. Joe smiled.

A few minutes later he walked into the lobby of the Indigo League building. Waiting for him was Tom, Rocky, Winter… and his uncle. Joe gasped and rushed towards them.

"JOE!" Four voices called. Joe ran up and hugged each and every one of them in turn till finally he noticed. He looked up.

"Hello, my boy." The strong voice of his only family member said. Joe smiled.

"Hi, Uncle Walker" Walker Glende looked down at him, a big smile on his face. Beside him Arco the arcanine was standing, smiling also. "Did you…" Joe began. Walker smiled.

"Yes, I saw the battle. I saw all five of them. You did amazing. But that last part at the end… That was amazing. I never knew anyone would even do that but you did. And you know what…" his smile grew. "I'm so glad you did." A tear fell from Joe's eye.

"Thank you, uncle." He cried. And then he hugged him. Walker smiled down on him and ruffled his nephew's hair.

"Hey Joe, let's get a photo to remember this day." Winter said. There was a chorus of 'Yeah's. The four friends stood next to each other as Walker pulled out a small photo camera and set it up. Joe stood at the middle of the group, Ralph resting on his head and smiling. On his right was Winter, who put her hand around his shoulder and partially hugged him. On his right was Tom and Rocky who were yelling at the camera like little children. There was a flash and the picture was taken. The five friends laughed and let go of one another. Joe felt over the moon. He couldn't think of anything better that could happen to him.

And then he noticed a figure standing by the open entrance. He was wearing a simple black cloak-like jacket and hood with black trousers and shoes. The hood on the back of the jacket was partially up. His slightly tanned skin shone out against the night time background. His skin looked slightly wrinkled and his face looked at least partially asian. A pair of sunglasses covered his eyes but visible under one of them was a thin but recent scar. He smiled as Joe caught sight of him. Joe internally gasped.

"No." His mind said. "No. that can't be… Can it?" He stared at the figure. The figure tilted its sunglasses. The eye with the scar was milky white. Joe audibly gasped this time. "How?" He asked. Cheng nodded. He smiled and disappeared back through the doorway and off into the night.

"Joe?" Winter asked, appearing next to him. Joe was shaken awake suddenly by her voice.

"Hmm?" He asked, turning to see her beautiful face.

"Are you ok?" She asked. Joe glanced to the door then back to her.

"Did you not see…?" He began.

"See what?" Tom asked. "We didn't see anything." Joe looked a little confused now.

"But… at the door… it was… it was Ch…"

"I think you're beginning to see things." Walker batted in, putting his hand on Joe's shoulder. Joe caught a wink from the corner of his uncle's eyes and he smiled at him. "You're probably exhausted. You've been battling all day long. And against the Elite four, to add. He patted his nephew hard on the shoulder. "Come on. Let's go home. You three can stay overnight at the farm with us." Tom, Rocky and Winter looked quite excited about that.

"Alright." They all said together. Walker nodded.

"Right. Sonic's just outside and he's ready to fly us back to Pallet town when you all are." Walker explained. Joe gave a small yawn as they all walked through the door. Suddenly he felt Tom pat him on the shoulder.

"Hey, thanks for letting me stay champion buddy." He said. Joe smiled.

"Don't mention it." He yawned again. "It wasn't really for me anyway."

* * *

**And that is it, ladies and gentlemen. The end of the Kanto story arch for Joe and Ralph. There will be one more chapter, however, mainly an Epilogue explaining what happened next. At the end of the epilogue will be few notes about what I'll be doing next. But till then I hope you enjoyed reading this story as much as I did writing it. Please a have a great time on the sight and if you want to give any feedback there's a review box for a reason. Please recommend any ideas I could use in future stories. **

**Till then... Au revoir.**


	41. Chapter 41: Au Revoir Kanto

**The final chapter is here. Its mainly goodbye's to characters who either won't or will rarely be in the sequel. It's a little long again but I hope you understand why. Please enjoy the final part of the story and... goodbye.**

* * *

Joe's eyes snapped open sharply. He sat up. He was lying on his bed in his bedroom back in his home in Pallet town. It was the middle of the night. Outside the moon's beam glistened through the half covered window. He sighed and rubbed his forehead, turning to the right side of the room. Ralph was sat on a small comfy chair, folded up in his wings and snoozing soundly. Joe smiled. It had been seven days since he, Ralph and the rest of his team had defeated the Elite Four and, technically, beaten Tom who had just become the champion. Now they were relaxing and resting at his uncle's farm, taking a long rest from their travels. What they were going to do next they didn't know yet. But they had all the time in the world to think about it. But this was not the current thing on Joe's mind. What was on his mind now was what had just waked him up. He'd heard a voice, whispering to him in his sleep. He didn't know where it had come from but it tickled his unconscious mind and stirred him back to consciousness.

_'__Fuchsia. Go down to the sea.'_

He slid out of bed. For some reason he felt a sudden need to head down to Fuchsia city. It wouldn't take long, maybe an hour by flight. But why did he want to go down there. There was no reason to. There was no purpose. The words echoed back through his mind.

_'__Fuchsia. Go down to the sea.'_

He walked up to the window and looked out. The hillside was calm. There was no battle going up on the hill. No shadowed figure waiting outside the house, looking up. Nothing. Finally there was nothing to worry about. But still Joe found himself feeling restless. He felt alert, yet he couldn't understand why. He looked back at Ralph. His crobat friend was still sleeping soundly.

_'__Fuchsia City. Go down to the Sea. Find her there.'_

Joe scratched the back of his head. He couldn't stand it. He'd have to go. He had to find out why he felt like he was being called there. He turned back to the window, pulled the curtains fully back and lifted it open with a quick thud on the roof. Ralph stirred and one of his eyes opened, looking around drowsily. Joe immediately shushed him.

"Shhhhh. I'm going for a quick ride down to fuchsia. You coming?" Ralph took a few seconds to figure out what he had said. His mind was still waking up. Then, when he finally figured out what was going on, he smiled cheekily.

The duo took of silently into the night, flying low over the woods, past the fields and finally out across the sea edge. Joe had quickly flung his clothes on so that he wasn't flying across Kanto wearing only his pyjamas. That would not have been nice to see, especially for him. He and Ralph glided silently through the air, leaving their home behind and travelling for the first time in a full week. They made quick distance, travelling over route 18's bridge, spotting Cinnabar Island and passing over a leaving cruise ship as they went. Finally they touched down at Fuchsia city, landing next to the pokémon centre, the easiest to spot building for any trainer, and ran down towards the beach. They stood at the edge of a short grassy sand mound and looked out over the beach. The sun was just behind the horizon, rising up slowly into view and creating a small line of dark orange light ahead of its form. On the sand a young girl in a green coat and pail cargo trousers stood, sandals on her feet, her long ginger hair held in a ponytail falling down her neck. She stood with her hands to her chest, a pokéball between her fingers. In the water Staryu was rotating and splashing about, with a happy looking Seadra and Poliwrath kicking water at each other. Beside the girl an honourable looking Pidgeotto stood, wings folded and neck erect. On the other side: a small, happy chansey was looking out over the ocean, caught up in its beauty. Joe slid down the back, leaning back so that he didn't fall forwards and holding a hand back towards the falling away sand in case he fell back. Ralph followed quickly, whiffing up a small gust of sand as he flapped his four thin wings. Winter turned back and saw the two of them approaching, giving a tired but grateful smile.

"Morning." She called to him as he approached. He waved a hand.

"Morning." He responded. "What are you doing here at this time in the morning?" He asked. She looked at him.

"I could ask you the same thing." She retorted. He smiled. So did she. He stood next to her, looking out over the water. The tide was getting lower. It had been reaching their toes before Joe had arrived and this was evidenced by the wet sand at his feet. In the water River blew a couple of bubbles at Stream who swatted them away. He responded by spitting a blob of clear water in his team mate's face. Both pokémon laughed and splashed each other happily. Winter smiled as she watched them. "I love the sea." She said. Joe turned. "It's just so… so peaceful. Don't you think?" Joe shrugged.

"I wouldn't know. I don't know what peaceful is." He responded. She chuckled, even though the joke wasn't that funny. They stood in silence for a while.

"I always wanted to swim out there." Winter pointed out to the open horizon. "All the way across the sea and discover some unknown land. It never happened of course. I was always too young to do so." Joe thought about that.

"I don't know." He smiled. "There's still a lot to be discovered her on the land, even if it isn't technically new. Look at the adventure we had." She nodded and smiled in agreement.

"Yes. It was pretty fun, wasn't it." She sighed. "I still can't believe it's already over. I would have thought that something else would have happened… but so far it hasn't."

"But something might." Joe added, think positively. "Maybe not soon but at some point. I'm not exactly planning to go around catching all hundred and fifty one pokémon but we could always do something else. Maybe drop by the safari zone and try our luck there again." Winter shook her head.

"No. I was thinking something new. I might try training at the Gym again. I've still got things to learn. And who knows. Maybe I'll make it to being the gym leader this time. Maybe." There was silence again. Ralph and Zephyr meanwhile had spent the whole conversation eyeing one another. Zephyr was proud and regal. He didn't really like communicating with anything and he considered Ralph to be a 'nuisance'. Ralph was kind and friendly but didn't take to well to being ignored or pestered. He thought Zephyr was stuck up. So the two of them were sizing each other up, figuring out what the other was thinking and what they thought about them. Then Zephyr clucked suddenly and made Ralph roll backwards in surprise. This was followed by a clicking whistle laugh from the bird pokémon. Ralph wasn't too happy about this. Joe and Winter laughed at their friend's silliness. Then they stared back out at sea. The sun's peak had just risen. Orange light spilled over the world, spreading across the sea and up the beach in a wave of light. Winter sighed.

"I'm not sure what I'll do for now." Joe said. Winter turned.

"Didn't Janine offer you a place at the gym as a student?" She asked. Joe thought for a second. He'd forgotten about that completely.

"I'll need time to think on that one." He decided finally. She nodded. There was silence again. The suns light passed over them. Its huge burning form rose over the horizon as a half circle, illuminating the land ahead of it. The sea sparkled like dazzling diamonds. Winter gave a small gasp. The view was amazing.

"I'm so glad we became friends." She said suddenly. Joe glanced at her. "If we hadn't then I'd have never experienced something like this with someone I trust." She took his hand, gripping her fingers between his. Joe looked down at their intertwined palms, then back up at her face. She was smiling at him. He smiled back. In sync they turned back to face the sun, watching as the morning rose up to greet the day.

An hour later and Joe arrived back home, riding upon Ralph's back. The sun was up above the horizon now and still rising, though not far enough to be called midday yet. It had just gone quarter past eight and as he slid of Ralph's shoulder he could hear barking from inside the farm.

"Blitz's awake, then." He quickly deduced and walked casually up to the door. He opened it and let Ralph inside first, before closing it behind himself.

Another week passed by. Nothing happened. There was no sign of Team Rocket returning again. There were no more trainers to battle. There was no need to go catch more pokémon. There was nothing to do at all that was different or new or fun. There were only so many times someone could go for a walk and enjoy themselves. Joe got up, got dressed and was about to go downstairs for breakfast when he glanced out his window and saw Tom walking towards the house, an ambivalent expression on his face. He looked like he was struggling over something. Joe rushed downstairs and headed for the front door. Finally! Someone to talk to! Someone to do something with! Joe burst through his front door, still slipping his jacket on, and ran out into the field. Ralph followed after him, still looking and feeling sleepy. Blitz followed after him, yapping at his lower wings. Tom caught sight of him and waved at the approaching Joe. Joe stopped in front of him, panting slightly.

"Hey, buddy." Tom called, happily. Joe stopped, allowing his friend to keep walking and not collide with him in the process.

"Hey." He managed, Weezing lightly as he got his breath back. He had run across half the field just to say hello. Tom was chuckling quietly. Ralph stopped at Joe's side, taking the slower form of movement. Blitz was no longer following. He had given up when he heard the sound of his food bowl being filled. "What you doing back here so soon? I thought you'd be up at Indigo Plateau sorting out the business of being the new champion." Tom rubbed the back of his head.

"Yeah, that's still going on, but right now they've given me the day of to come see my friends. I was sorting out my official team for the league and now that that's done all that's needed to do is arrange working times, costume and when I official start up as the official champion. There's a weirdly huge amount of work which goes into it." Joe nodded, believing he understood. Tom shrugged. "You know that was a very kind thing you did for me back in the champion's arena. No one else would have done that. It's left me with a lot of expectation on me, however. Blue and the others have hardly stopped talking about it." Joe chuckled.

"Yeah, well since he is an Ex-Champion himself I imagine he's actually kind of jealous. Apparently Red wasn't as nice to him when he defeated him." Tom shook his head.

"No. He wasn't. He told me his entire journey story. It was quite worryingly similar to ours." Both boys chuckled, awkwardly. Ralph stood, waiting for something important to be said. Joe tapped his foot, waiting for either something to say or for something to be said. He coughed. "You seen Rocky or Winter recently?" Tom asked. Joe shook his head.

"I saw winter a week ago, but I don't know where she's been since then. As for Rocky I haven't seen him since after the Elite Four. I don't know where he is." Tom nodded. Joe gestured back to the house. "Do you want to come inside for a bit?" He asked. Tom nodded warmly.

The weeks passed by like pages being torn from a calendar. The days fell away as Joe and Ralph found themselves with less and less to do. Tom was busy with the Elite Four, Winter was working in Cerulean and Rocky was nowhere to be seen. As for working on the farm Joe had managed to set up Carter with a small job. He was helping the dugtrio dig up sowing land as well as helping to move heavy objects. He also found himself useful with fixing the stone walls around the area and he quite enjoyed that. It required a lot of smashing large rocks with his heels. As for Joe, Ralph and the rest of his team, however, there was nothing to do except sit around or train, and both of those had quickly got boring. Then, finally, after exactly one month since the Indigo Plateau, something finally happened. Joe was asleep, nothing occupying his mind. Then, it happened. He opened his eyes and he was back in the colourless hallway, four locked doors around him, one unlocked door ahead of him. He sighed.

"As annoying as it is, this had to happen at some point." He sighed and stepped forwards. A childish voice echoed through the fabric of the dream itself.

"You have done exceedingly well, hero." The childlike giggle soothed any fear or anger which Joe may have felt about being back. "Please, step through the last doorway and see what needs to be done." The far door swung open, making a metallic clang upon hitting the invisible wall beside it. Behind the door was bright blinding light. Joe covered his eyes and stepped forwards. The light faded and suddenly he was seeing the world. His world. He looked down. Bellow him was Kanto, his home. Quickly he was plummeting down, down back to the ground. However he didn't feel fear or even slightly tense. Instead he felt relaxed. He wasn't falling towards the earth. The earth was rising up to greet him. After several seconds he finally felt his feet touch grass. He opened his eyes and he was standing somewhere he didn't recognise. It was more green then Kanto, with more woodlands and less fields, yet somehow the grass was longer and wetter. He looked around. He was standing in a forest clearing. It didn't look like there was any way out, however. The trees had long, curling branches, coated in thorns, sealing up the gaps between each trunk with tiny cutting razors. He rubbed his head. He was getting pretty tired of being played with.

"Ok, so I'm here. Why am I here?" He asked everything around him.

"I should be the first to thank you for everything you have done…" There was a small pop behind him. He turned to see Mew, the small pink mouse/cat psychic pokémon, appearing behind him. It looked very happy, purely from the stair in its eyes alone. Its mouth wasn't always visible. It seemed to appear randomly from within its soft looking pink skin. "But there is little time for any of that. Your job in Kanto is over, but there is still danger which only you alone can defeat." Joe sighed.

"Look, I'm done with all this stopping evil crap. Get someone like Tom to help you. He's the new champion. Surely he has more power than I do about these matters." Mew looked a little more stern this time.

"No. No substitute is optional for what will happen. No one else knows the true power they hold. Team Rocket may be disbanded here, in Kanto, but not everywhere. Archer escaped. He is already setting up his army again in Johto, the neighbouring region." Joe kicked at the ground.

"I knew we shouldn't have just let him go. How is he able to build up an army?" Mew didn't even blink.

"He has found a way. I cannot explain it because it is something I have been instructed not to say. Apparently it would alter the course of history as it is meant to be, sending the world down a very dangerous path." Joe blinked. He looked annoyed.

"By who?"

"Not my place to tell." Mew said, sounding apologetic. "I was just told to warn you. You need to head for Johto within the next twenty-four hours or any chance you have of stopping him may be shattered. You must prepare. You must get ready to fight. His army will not be ready for a while, but neither will you. You cannot take more than two pokémon across the border." Joe was looking furious now.

"Why not?" He demanded. Mew shook its head.

"The Law. You'll need to build up a new team while you're there. That is why you must go soon." Joe looked even more confused than he had been before.

"Since when has there been a law stopping trainers taking pokémon from one region into another?" He asked. Mew seemed to take a second to think of the answer.

"Not a human law. Arceus' law. The law of existence. He decrees you take only Ralph and one other. I don't understand why myself. Something about it's the only way for you to have a chance at succeeding." Joe rubbed his forehead.

"That doesn't make sense. Why would he want me to not use my full team here? They're stronger then the Elite Four now. Why can't they succeed in stopping Team Rocket?" Mew seemed to struggle with this conversation now. Clearly it didn't know the full answer.

"Look, I'm just telling you what I've been told myself. I don't decide upon the fate of the world. I don't tell people what to do. I don't control time. I don't even see it. I'm just the messenger. And this is my message." Its voice returned back to its happy-go-lucky tone, ostensibly calming down a lot from its sudden spike of annoyance and strain. It coughed and giggled at the same time. "I understand your confusion. Don't worry. This is the last vision we will force you to undergo. After this you will never see us again. Just remember what I said to you last time. Trust in your friends. They will help you get through your trials. But most of all trust in you. You_ can_ do it!" The worlds began to fade into an invisible white hole. The sky, trees and grass were sucked into a small dot behind Mew like water down a plug hole. "Oh, and one last thing I nearly forgot." Mew added suddenly. Its skin began to stretch as the vision faded. "You'll make newer, stronger friends and catch new, strong pokémon in the next region. Just remember who you are and keep true to what you stand for. You can win, no matter how bad the odds are. But remember that not everything is as it seems…" and the world disappeared.

Joe sat up, sweat drenching him. He stared blindly at the far wall. His vision was seeing only white but slowly the real world was fading in around him. He gasped for desperate air in his arid lungs. He was sitting in his bed, it was early morning, there was movement downstairs… and Ralph was not in the room… but someone else was.

"You have no idea how much you move about when you sleep." Said the well recognised female voice. Joe jumped back – while still sitting on the bed – gasped in genuine surprise and raised the sheets up over his chin, covering most of him from sight.

"Winter?!" He exclaimed, surprised and a little disgusted. "What are you doing here?! In my room?!" Winter gave a slightly cheeky smile.

"Before you panic, it wasn't to see you without your clothes on." She said it so awkwardly that the universe seemed to stop and face palm itself out of sheer embarrassment. She coughed after a five second pause of nothingness. "I just came over to see how you were. Your uncle let me in. He's doing breakfast for us both." She brushed her long orange hair out of her eyes. "I… I came over to ask…" She stopped, looking a little unsure. Her cheeks flushed light crimson. Joe raised an eyebrow.

"What?" He asked, intrigued. She shook her head and raised her shoulders, unsurely.

"I wanted to know what you were doing this afternoon." She asked. A small smile flickered on her face. Joe took a second to consider the answer before returning her smile with his own.

"You know, you've arrived at the perfect time." He said suddenly. The universe stopped for a second face palm to itself. Winter was looking a little unsure by what he meant. She also looked a little shock.

"Um… what…?" She tried.

"I mean I've just had another vision." He explained. Winter nodded, believing she understood.

"Oh." She said. Joe looked down at the floor, then under his blanket.

"I'll explain downstairs. Could you just give me a minute to get changed?" He nodded vigorously, trying to get the message across. It took Winter a second to receive it through her female mind.

"Oh. Of course. Um… of course. Sorry." She walked to the door and closed it behind her. Joe sighed, letting go of the covers again and rubbing the back of her head.

"God damn! Was that awkward enough?"

A few minutes later he met Winter in the dining room. There was a collection of plates holding toast, waffles, pancakes and muffins lying on the table, with three smaller plates sitting at the chairs around them. His uncle had certainly gone all out with preparing. He was still in the kitchen, fixing them up a few cups of tea to wake them up. Blitz was currently tied up to the radiator to stop him harassing them for food while they ate. Ralph however didn't seem to be anywhere to see.

"Morning." Walker said as Joe touched down on the floor. Joe raised a hand in greeting. His uncle turned and thrust him a large mug of boiling hot tea as he passed. "Don't drink it too quick or it'll burn your throat. Then you'll be breathing like a charizard for the rest of your life." Joe chuckled. His uncle could be quite silly some times. If he started breathing like a charizard he'd have to make sure to stand twenty feet away from everyone else for fear of setting them on fire with his breath. Charizards could usually handle that but humans can't. He pulled a chair and sat next to Winter. She seemed a little fidgety.

"Why are you here so early?" Joe asked her. She shrugged.

"Well, I couldn't really sleep so I thought I'd come see how you were. It was a bit of a ride. The wind made it a tougher trip but we got here ok. I thought I'd come see what you were planning for the day and maybe come join you." Joe took a bite of a slice of toast.

"Well there's of course something I need to talk to you about…" He said, wiping crumbs from his mouth.

"You mean the dream?" She asked.

"The Vision." He corrected. "But yes, that." He looked around, confused. "But first of… have you seen Ralph?" Winter glanced up. Joe slowly followed her gaze. Something large and purple collided with his plate and lay flat over it. He and Winter jumped back in their seats. Ralph smiled at them, eyes closed and smiling wide, munching away at Joe's muffin, pancake and waffle with glee. Joe did not look too happy about this.

"Well that was a hell of a crash landing." Winter joked under her breath. Joe tapped his fingers on the table.

"Ralph, what have I told you about doing things like that! You scared the crap out of me!" Ralph opened his eyes, still smiling to himself. "You're also eating my breakfast, by the way." he added, as if it was just a small inconvenience. Ralph sniggered and kept munching. With one wing he pushed the plate of muffins towards his trainer. At the same time he knocked ever other plate of the table and onto the floor. Fortunately there was a small ball of pail hair with two ape-like arms and feet scurrying around and grabbing them before they could hit the ground. The small male mankey jumped up on his one free foot and placed each plate back. Once it was done the small pig nosed monkey wiped its hands on the table cloth and bowed at Joe and winter. Joe bowed back. "Thank you, Mango." He said. Mango jumped and scurried back over to where he had been, teasing Blitz by the radiator beside the stairs. Mango was Walker's most recently caught pokémon. Apparently he had caught him a month ago, when Joe went to battle the elite four. While he was making his journey up there he ran into the small thing as it decided to try and steal his bag. It clearly didn't succeed. Once it had been caught, Joe's uncle had decided to keep him and use him as a hand around the house. Now he seemed a lot calmer, happier and fatter. It also seemed to enjoy teasing the other pokémon, although Walker had a way of stopping that. As the small furry primate waved a piece of waffle in front of Blitz's face Walker sighed and reached for a small drum he had waiting at his side.

"What did I tell you about teasing the puppy?" He snapped and raised a finger towards the drum. Mango immediately fell backwards and scurried away into a corner, trying to escape the annoying banging sound that the accursed thing made. When Walker was satisfied that Mango had learned his lesson, he put the drum down again. "That always works." He chuckled to the children. The small monkey came scurrying back out, looking pained and annoyed but apologetic. Blitz growled at him, angrily. Mango stuck his tongue out. Meanwhile back at the table Joe had managed to push Ralph of the table and onto the ground, where he promptly got back up and cleaned himself of grease and pieces of breakfast. Joe glanced at Winter. She hadn't touched her food.

"So what was the vision you had?" She asked him.

"What vision?" Walker asked, his ears suddenly pricking up like satellite antennae. Joe gulped. He wasn't too comfortable with talking to an audience. He turned to see Ralph also staring intently at him.

"Well…" He began. All three of them edged slightly closer, setting him of balance. "I, Um… I had a final vision where I was visited by the legendary pokémon, Mew." He began. The edged backwards a step. He gulped. "It… explained to me that my job wasn't done and that I needed to travel to Johto within the next 24 hours or I wouldn't be able to stop them."

"Who?" Winter asked. "Team Rocket? You've already beaten them, remember. Giovanni shut them down again for the last time." Joe shook his head.

"No. Archer and his elites got away. Apparently he's already building up an army to doo… something. It didn't explain what. But it said that only I could stop it and that I would make stronger friends on the way."

"Well that doesn't sound too helpful at all." Winter said. "It didn't even say why you were stopping them or what it was they were doing. Why would it not do that?"

"Legendaries have a different way of thinking about things then we do." Walker butted in. "It's likely that Mew didn't even get told itself. Arceus probably didn't want it to know. But whatever it is it must be serious for them to waste their final vision on it." Joe looked at him.

"I didn't say it was my last." He told him, suspiciously. Walker gave him a relaxing stare.

"You had four visions before. This one was your fifth. The fifth is always the last one. It was for me and it was for Red." Joe shrugged.

"Fair point. I forgot you experienced this before." Winter was looking surprised by this sudden information.

"What do you mean 'experienced this before'" She asked. Joe and his uncle shared glances.

"I'll explain later." Joe told her. "But it's important we get going soon or we'll miss our chance to stop them."

"Was there anything else?" Walker asked him. Joe nodded.

"Yes. There was one last thing mew told me." He explained. "Apparently I need to build a new team in Johto in order to stop Archer and Team Rocket. Apparently my current team aren't ever going to be strong enough. I don't really understand the reason but I'm not really willing to risk it." Walker looked a little confused.

"Why are they not strong enough now?" He asked. Joe shrugged.

"It couldn't explain. It said something about keeping history on the correct path. Still, I don't know what the future will be so I can't argue." He sighed. "It said I can take only two pokémon with me into Johto. Of course I'm taking Ralph but I'm unsure on whom else. I'm probably going to have to explain this to the others. What will they think of me?" Walker put his hand on his nephew's shoulder.

"They're your team. They'll listen to you. They'll understand. What you should focus on is who you are going to take." He explained. Joe nodded.

"I should at least ask which of them wants to come." He decided.

"Well, no matter what you say, I'm coming with you, too." Winter volunteered. Joe smiled at her.

"You know I was not going to make any argument against it. It'd be glad to have you join me." She smiled under his complement. "Would you need to explain where you're going to Misty?" He asked her.

"No. She won't mind. It was a part time job I was doing with her. I can leave at any point. She'll understand perfectly. Joe nodded.

"Alright. Now if you'll excuse me for a minute I need to go and break the news to the others." He looked around. "Where are my pokémon?" He asked. His uncle pointed at the door.

"Outside, in the farmyard." He explained.

"Thanks." Joe got up, grabbed his jumper, slid it on and walked out through the door, Ralph following after him.

Outside the other five members of Joe's team were relaxing and talking with the farm pokémon. They seemed to having a heated conversation before Joe turned up and interrupted them.

"Morning, guys." He announced. All five of his team stopped talking and turned to face him, looking happy to see him. He, however, looked a little depressed and unsure. It didn't take long for them to pick up on this. He knelt down. "Look, I… uh… have something… something kind of tough to explain to you all." He tried. Each pokémon stared intently at him, hanging on his every word. He sighed. "I'm going to be leaving Kanto for a while. I'm needed in Johto so I won't be here. Normally I'd bring you guys with me… except…" He paused. His pokémon were starting to look a little unsure themselves. They seemed confused by what he was trying to say. Pippy squeaked a question, asking what he was getting at. Joe sighed. "Except… that I'm only allowed to take one of you guys with me." Pippy, Pitt, Cinders, Carter and Sirena seemed to gasp in afraid surprise. They had no idea he would come out with this kind of information. They looked at one another, seeing the exact same expression on each other's faces. Ralph put his wing on Joe's shoulder, trying to make him feel better about giving such traumatic news. Joe cared about each of his pokémon and they cared about him. The idea of him having to leave any of them behind was heart breaking. "Look, I don't like it any more then you do but I don't have a choice in the matter. I'm aloud to take one of you with me and Ralph but there's nothing I can do about the rest of you." He stood up again. "So, I should probably start by asking this. Who of you would be willing to stay behind to let one of the others go." He waited for a few seconds. All five pokémon seemed to confer for a second. Then all five hands rose. (Well, three hands, a vine and a flipper.) Joe rubbed his forehead. "No, I need someone to take with me. I don't want to leave all of you behind." Carter suddenly raised his arms and stepped forwards, towards Joe. He stood in front of his trainer, crying something in pokéspeech. Joe looked at him, confused. Then, suddenly, Carter hugged him. His strength lifted Joe off the ground, leaving his legs kicking at the air. "Oomph" Joe exclaimed in surprise as his rigs were crushed by the lanky fighting pokémon. Carter quickly put him back down and stepped away from the group, standing a few feet away by the seed patch with his arms crossed. A dugtrio stopped at his foot, followed it upwards and then disappeared underground, only to appear seconds later beside the other one, and continued digging. Carter didn't have a visible mouth but it was clear from his eyes that he was smiling.

Joe tried to understand what his pokémon was saying to him. Then suddenly it snapped into his mind randomly. "You want to stay?" He asked. Carter nodded, still smiling with his shadowed eyes. He raised a leg and struck the ground, digging up a small hole. He then grabbed a rogue seed from the ground and plopped it down into the hole, finishing by covering it up again with the scooped up dirt. Joe smiled. "You're happy here?" He asked. Carter nodded again. Joe's smile fell a little but he was happy for his friend. If Carter was willing to stay behind than Joe would not try and stop him. "Alright." He agreed. "You can stay here and help out my uncle." He turned to the rest of the team. "What about the rest of you?" He asked. Four heads looked at each other. None of them stepped forwards. "Well maybe professor Oak will have a place for any of you who want to stay." Joe deduced. "We should go ask him."

"So you need a place for your pokémon to stay while you travel to Johto." Professor Oak repeated what Joe had told him. Joe and the five remaining members of his team had entered his lab only a minute ago and currently he was explaining to him what the situation was.

"Yes, that's the problem." Joe explained.

Professor Oak looked a little confused by the question. "But, why not just put them in the PC and withdraw them when you arrive?" He asked.

"I can't use any of them at all while I'm there." Joe explained. Professor Oak looked even more confused.

"Why not?" Joe suddenly realised that explaining about the visions was probably not the best thing to do. If he mentioned it the professor might assume he was mad or making it up. Worse, he might assume Joe was trying to neglect his team.

"Um… Uncle's idea." He said finally. "He… said I should try and grow a new team while in Johto and there for I shouldn't take any more than two members of my team." Professor Oak finally seemed to understand.

"Ah, that does sound like something Walker would think. That's a good idea of his. Johto has a lot of new, different pokémon so I imagine you would be able to grow a new team easily. And of course Ralph is going with you, so that's one of the two available slots taken up." He took his glasses of and wiped the lenses with a wet cloth. "So you want me to take care of some of them till you come back for them?"

"That's right." Joe agreed. "But part of the problem is most of them still wanted to come with me. Carter has chosen to stay with my uncle but as for the rest of them…" He looked back at the four spare members of his team. They seemed to be chatting with themselves again. Joe turned back around. "I don't exactly want to just drop them all on you. I wanted to ask which of them were willing to stay here with you. I wanted them to make the choice themselves." Professor Oak nodded understandingly.

"I see." He stepped past Joe and towards the four waiting pokémon. Their conversation froze as they saw him calmly walking up to them. He had a disarming smile on his face. "Ok. Your trainer has explained the situation to me and he's asked if I could take care of a few of you till he gets back from Johto." He leaned forwards, looking each of them in the eyes. "So, who here wants to stay with me?" No hands rose. Professor oak made an audible "Ah." Sound before standing straight again and stepping back. "Alright. Let's try another question. Who here is willing to stay with me so that one of the others can go?" There was a short pause as all four pokémon looked at each other. Then Sirena slid forwards, leaving a small trail of water behind her. She bowed her head as she stopped in front of the aged professor and made a small, sad, lulling song. Professor Oak smiled and turned back to Joe and Ralph. "I think we have a decision." He announced. Joe didn't look happy but he was glad. He was managing to narrow the choices down and he didn't have to force any of his pokémon to leave so far. Now it was just Pippy, Cinders and Pitt left to choose between, and Joe didn't know who to keep out of all three of them.

"Thank you, professor." He said, sounding a little sad. The old professor smiled at him.

"Don't worry. Sirena will be fine here. She'll be with other pokémon so she'll be happy and socialised and I'll make sure she stays fed and gets exercise. Sorry, but I don't really have any room for the other three." Joe rubbed his forehead.

"It's ok. I'll find somewhere for them, if it's not at the farm."

"Well good luck with your travels." The professor called after Joe as he, Ralph, Pippy, Pit and Cinders headed for the entrance to the lab. "Take care of yourself and have a great time." The door slammed shut.

Joe sat at the bottom of the hill, looking a little depressed. He was sitting at the same hill that he'd first met Ralph, yet this didn't manage to sway his mood at all. He held his head up with his hands against his need, looking off into the distance. Ralph was sitting on the grass next to him, propped into the position using his front wings as arms. On his Shoulder Pippy was perched, looking at half of an apple, unable to take the first bite. On Joe's left Pitt and Cinders were sitting, also looking off into the distance. The two starter pokémon seemed to have become close friends during Joe's journey. They were always chatting and talking with one another and they both seemed to enjoy making jokes about the other. It was strange considering that one was an overgrown dinosaur with a flower on its back and the other was, in many respects, a dragon. You wouldn't imagine the two to get along so well, yet somehow they did. It was almost fascinating. But it was clear on their expressions that they knew they were going to have to make a decision. They either go themself and leave the other alone at the farm, or they let the other one go in their place. Joe sighed. He lifted his cap of and rubbed his long hair.

"What should I do about this, Ralph?" He asked. All four remaining pokémon looked at him. "I don't want to leave any of you behind, but…" He sighed and lulled his head forwards, stressed and tired.

"Hello, stranger." Said a voice from behind him. Ralph jumped into the air in surprise, and then lowered his wings again when he saw who it was. Joe turned slowly, a sudden happy smile on his face.

"Rocky." He laughed. "Where the hell have you been for the last month?" Rocky Stone was standing behind him, wearing entirely new clothing and looking surprisingly upbeat and happy.

"About." He replied, casually. Joe nodded.

"I've been trying to find out where you've been for weeks. Why didn't you come see me? I've been so bored." Rocky sat down next to Joe as Ralph moved aside for him.

"I was kind of busy. Things have been happing between me and Gordon that I needed to sort out. But it's not that important." Joe just smiled.

"Well it's nice to see you again after a whole month." There was a small pause as they both tried to think of something to say.

"So what have you been doing then?" Joe asked finally. "Rocky sighed. He knew he wasn't getting away from the question, not when it was Joe asking.

"Well I've been back at the gym. I've been helping Gordon out with a few things. I'm spending a bit of time there as a gym trainer as well, just testing any of the younger trainers who want to train up before taking the actual leader on. Not going back to the position myself, though. It was never really my thing." Joe nodded

"So, you've been doing a lot?" he shortened for himself. Rocky responded with a nonchalant nod.

"Yeah. I also trained my team a bit. Someone's grown up a lot since our adventure." He reached for a pokéball and released it. Onto the grass field stepped a tall, proud, brown skinned, skull wearing female marowak. Mina stretched her arms, cracked her neck and swung her bone in a full circle behind her. Cinders and Pitt both gave an audible gasp. This was the tiny timid cubone that Rocky had own before? She had changed so much; she hardly even looked like the same pokémon. Pippy dropped his able. Before Mina had been about the same size as him. Now she was at least three times his size and a lot more fearsome looking. It was intimidating, especially when he considered that _he_ had comforted _her_ when _she_ was upset. Joe looked quite stunned.

"That's Mina?!" He exclaimed, unable to believe the transformation she had undergone. Rocky nodded proudly.

"Yep. That's the child cubone that we rescued from Pokémon Tower" He agreed. Mina finally stopped showing of and walked back over to Rocky who gave her a berry to eat. She took it and swallowed it in one bite. "She's done a lot of growing. But then again so have we all." Joe looked at him.

"Were you going to come with me and Winter to Johto?" He asked. Rocky looked unsure.

"I had heard about it from her. She told me a little while ago, after you left to go see professor Oak. I'm sorry that you're leaving most of your team behind, by the way." Joe rolled his shoulders. "But…" He stopped. Joe raised an eyebrow. What was his friend not saying?

"There's something you're not telling me, isn't there." He said, using the kind of tone that ask but rather demands a truthful response. Rocky sighed. He hadn't wanted to tell his friend the news this way, but…

"Well, Joe… I'm not too sure how to explain this, but…" He sighed. "I'm… I'm not coming with you." Joe suddenly looked deflated.

"What? But why not?" He asked. Rocky was struggling to say it already.

"I got a job offer… from the Pokémon League." Joe looked stunned.

"What?!" He exclaimed, suddenly getting excited. "What kind of an offer?"

"They want to give me a place on the Johto Elite Four. Bruno apparently quit, saying he didn't want to be in both Leagues anymore because it was too tiring. So they put up a position for anyone wanting the job and I took the offer. I'm trying out with them next week… So I'm not going to be able to go travelling with you anymore." Joe looked sad.

"Well… if that's what you want to do." He said, sounding more depressed now. "Good luck with it." Rocky nodded, noticing his friend's sadness.

"Don't worry. We'll still be friends and I'll try and meet up with you now and then. But till it's over I'm going to be quite busy. I'll probably find out a few days after if I got the place or not. If you make it to the Johto League and I do get in then we'll be able to have that final battle we should have had." They both laughed.

"Yeah. I guess we will." Joe agreed. "Well… all I can do is wish you luck."

"And you too." Rocky replied as he stood up and withdrew Mina again. "I'd probably best go and prepare. Have a great time in Johto." He called and walked away, past the hill and on towards Viridian city. Joe sighed and rubbed his head. Ralph sat back down, rubbing his friends shoulder with his wing. Joe sighed.

"Well the group is getting smaller by the minute." He said, sounding quite sad about the whole situation. All four of his remaining pokémon looked at each other. "I don't know if I want to let the rest of you go. I don't exactly know where I'd leave you. The farm is already quite crowded and Professor Oak can't take any of you. What should I do?"

"I know someone who may be willing to help." Said a surprising British voice from behind them. Before anyone could even react Ralph had already done so, shooting into the air, slashing a wing around and pointing the sharp edge at the speaker's thought. Joe stood up and looked back, causing Pippy to fall of his shoulder. Joe gasped in surprise. It was the man he had seen back at the door to the Indigo League. The one who had been watching him and his friends celebrating in the lobby. Currently he had his hands up and was leaning backwards, Ralph's wing dangerously close to the nape of his neck. "Alright, alright." He said in a fearfully soothing voice. "Nice bat." Joe suddenly found himself feeling angry.

"Cheng." He hissed. "What are you doing here?" Ex-Commander Cheng lowered his arms but Ralph did not move his wing an inch. His smile returned slightly to his face but was halted from travelling too far by Ralph's angry expression on bloodlust. His sunglasses were still covering his eyes, but it was clear it was Cheng, because of the scar running down his right eye.

"I just came to see you." He explained, actually sounding honest for the first time ever. "I heard from your uncle that you were leaving for Johto but needed someone to take on a few members of your team." Joe narrowed his eyebrows, not wanting to trust the man who had tried to kill him several times before.

"Why would he want to talk to you?" He questioned. Cheng's smile shrunk an inch.

"No matter what I may have done to him or what he may have done to me, he's still my brother." He shrugged. "Besides, he owes me one for all the stuff I did for him in the past. All the sacrifices I made for his happiness. Like you." Cheng said it like it wasn't his own words. But it still sounded honest. Maybe it was possible for someone as horrible as him to see the error of their ways and change. Maybe he was already doing that. "I have a proposition for you." He said suddenly. Joe's eyebrow rose, questioningly. "Walker said you could only take two pokémon with you into Johto, but clearly you still have four left. So, I wish to make you a kind offer." Joe gave him a suspicious look.

"What kind of offer?" He asked.

"I don't have any pokémon of my own anymore." Cheng told him. "You freed them in our last battle and I haven't caught anymore since. So, if you're willing to trust me, I'm willing to take two of them of you so you can go on your journey." Joe looked suddenly surprised.

"How can I trust you to not hurt them?" He demanded. Cheng put his fist on his chest.

"You have my word as a Rocket Commanded. We may be criminals but we're not liars. I will solemnly swear to take care of, protect, feed, quench, train, exercise and love whatever pokémon you give to me to take care of. They will come to no harm. They will be involved in no crime. I shall treat them like you treat them. With love and respect. As Commander Enlai Cheng of Team Rocket you have my word." Joe looked a little stunned by the amount of words the tall black wearing man had manages to say. He didn't expect him to know how to say any more than a single sentence at a time. Slowly he nodded his approval.

"Alright." He said, still sounding suspicious even though he wasn't anymore. He was about to turn and ask his pokémon which of them was willing to go with him when suddenly Pitt and Cinders stepped past him and stood beside the Ex-Commander. Joe and Ralph looked a little surprised. "Pitt? Cinders? Are you sure?" Both fully grown, fully evolved starter pokémon nodded in agreement. They had been pondering it over and had decided that, even though they both wanted to travel still, neither of them wanted to leave the other. They had become very good friends and the idea of leaving the other behind anywhere was mortifying to them. They were a bit like chalk and cheese, if chalk could breathe fire and fly and cheese could sprout vines and flowers from its body. Ralph gave Joe a certain glance. Joe understood immediately that it was what they both wanted. "Ok. He agreed finally. "You can take them with you." Cheng smiled.

"Thank you. Don't worry about them. I'll be doing a bit of travelling so they'll get to see, do and fight a lot. I'll also try and get them a couple of friends." He explained. Pippy and Ralph said their goodbyes to their old team mates. Pippy nuzzled Pitt's head while Ralph patted Cinders on the back. Both pokémon did the same back, but with more force.

"Don't mention it." Joe told him. "He wasn't being humble with what he said. He really didn't want Cheng to bring I back up ever. Cheng's smile fell a little. He was clearly about to say something important.

"I don't imagine you'll ever see me as your father. In fact I struggle just thinking about it myself. But, I just want to know that, even if you don't want to talk to me ever again, I'm sorry about everything I did that wronged you." Joe suddenly felt a small part of his angered heart drop. As if the words had somehow made him feel that forgiveness was earned. "I realise now how wrong I was in my choices and I just wish I had seen it earlier. After your pokémon gave its own life up to protect you and its friends, I came to see gradually what was wrong with Team Rocket. I want to thank you for that. If you hadn't then who knows what would have become of me or Rocket. They'd probably be trying to take over the Indigo League by force if they hadn't been stopped." Joe felt his fists loosen. "So…" Cheng began. "Do you forgive me?" Joe shut his eyes, taking all the information. He wanted to run up and hug this man. He wanted to embrace the one who he should call his father. But it was all so sudden. His change in attitude, his appearance, his mere existence was too much to handle. It was too confusing and difficult to accept. Joe glanced at Ralph. Ralph saw his expression and lowered his Wing from Cheng's neck.

"I forgive you." Joe began. Cheng smiled widely.

"Thank you, my son." He took a step forward.

"But…" Joe continued. Cheng stopped, his smile fading. "…You are not my father." Cheng raised an eyebrow. "And you never will be. My father died. You are just a man with the same name." Cheng looked deflated.

"Ok. I understand." He said, surprisingly humbly. Joe had expected him to explode at his commend but he hadn't. Maybe he really had changed. But this was best for him. He knew that the commander really was his father. That was clear to him now. But he didn't want him to be. "Well, I guess I'd best be going then." He turned and went to leave. Joe suddenly felt bad about what he had said. But before he could call out and ask him to come back the Ex-Commander Cheng, Pitt the venusaur and Cinders the charizard were gone. Now Just Joe, Ralph and Pippy were left standing on the hillside, looking on into the horizon.

Soon enough the hour came. The hour to leave his home. Joe and Ralph had headed straight for the Indigo Plateau the next morning, making sure they were packed and ready for heading into a new region. Joe's uncle, Walker, had gone with them to make sure they made it and to see them off. When they got there they Found Winter waiting for him. She was wearing her now normal autumnal attire but she seemed to have an attitude that was stuck in spring. She was waiting outside of the Pokémon League main building, alone. When she caught glance of Joe she smiled and waved. He hurried over to her, Ralph following suit but his uncle staying back and watching. She hugged him and awkwardly pushed herself away before speaking.

"You ready to go?" She asked. Joe took a second to think about it.

"Not really." He told her. She smiled.

"Well no worries. It'll be fun. A new adventure, like the one we had here in Kanto." In his mind Joe hoped it wouldn't be. Even though it had been fun doing it all for a first time he had made some grand mistakes and, of course, Team Rocket had really dampened it a lot, especially toward the middle. He slowly nodded.

"Well, I'm not turning back now." He decided. She nodded in agreement.

"No. We'll face it all together. As a team. Me and you." There was a short, slightly miffed off grunt from besides Joe. "And you too, Ralph." She added, laughing a little. Ralph gave a more approving smile back.

"Are you two ready to go?" Walker asked, finally reaching them from where he'd parked Sonic. Joe turned and nodded.

"Yeah." He told him. "We're ready."

As it turned out there was going to be a small bit of walking in order to reach the border into Johto. There was a pathway beside the exit to Victory Road which would to a long, scenic road. When they got there they found that that same road also lead to the Johto League building, which was at least two miles north of the path. Johto was at the south end and approximately ten miles or so before the first rest stop. When they finally reached the crossroad between the two regions they found a small crowd waiting for them already. Joe and Winter gasped.

"We thought we'd all come and see you off." Walker explained, seeing the crowd and the children's expressions. The crowd was made up of people that both the trainers knew and cared about. All the friends they had made, all the family they knew. Rocky and Gordon were there. So were Professor Oak and Blue, as well as Bruno, Agatha and Lorelei. Tom was also there, Alakazam standing proudly beside him and looking sleepy. He was the first to wave upon seeing them. But most surprisingly of all was that both Misty and Samuel were there. Neither Joe nor Winter nor even Walker had expected them to turn up, being two gym leaders who didn't have much in relation to the two trainers. Winter immediately rushed over and hugged Misty who hugged back. They seemed to chat about gym stuff and water stuff, Joe didn't pay much attention to it. He went straight to Tom and shook his hand, partially still congratulating him on becoming champion but mainly a big farewell. Tom was not going to travel in Johto. He was Kanto Champion now. It wasn't likely Joe, Ralph or Winter would see him till they got back.

"Good luck, pall." Tom said, looking a little sad but also happy that his friend was moving on, into the big, wide, open world.

"Thanks." Joe said. He and tom shared a pat on the shoulder then moved away. Professor Oak was the next to speak.

"I couldn't be any more amazed by the feats you've reached on your short journey." He informed. "Taking on a rare, injured pokémon you'd only just met and growing it into your closest ally is no easy task. Yet you did it with ease. You even defeated my grandson. That's not as easy as it may sound." Blue nudged him, but only gently.

"Stop it." He chuckled. The rest of the Kanto Elite Four found themselves chuckling a little as well, though they tried to cover it up for the professor's sake. Next to speak was Samuel. Joe still didn't know why he was here but he had a relatively good guess.

"Giovanni wanted me to thank you for him for your help in stopping Team Rocket." He said.

"Help in stopping?" Joe asked, flummox. "I did most of the work for him!" Samuel smiled.

"Yeah. You did. So remember that. Keep remembering that." He bowed and stepped back. Joe wandered if he was ever going to stop being shady. He hopped that he wouldn't' follow him around Johto, too. The idea of having a hidden guardian was not really that likable to him. Finally Walker spoke up. He walked up to his nephew, knelt down and put a hand on his shoulder.

"You have no idea how proud I am of you. Of everything you've already done." Joe shrugged with a smile.

"I can take a guess." His uncle smiled back.

"Just take care, ok. Don't take any dumb risks unless it's incredibly important. Catch some new pokémon and make sure your team stay healthy and safe. Look out for Winter and Ralph. But most importantly look out for yourself. Team Rocket's still out there, even if it's not as strong as it used to be anymore. Just…. Oh, just be ok, ok?" Joe smiled. He knew his uncle wasn't good with speeches but he could tell he was trying.

"Don't worry, uncle." He smiled. "I'll be fine." His uncle smiled and stood up.

"I know you will. Just remember what you've learned within the last couple of months. Also remember what I said. Legends are not born."And with that Walker stepped back. The crowd of friends moved aside, revealing the long, open grassland ahead. Down it ran a slightly winding path, dotted with small clumps of trees or lone trees at the road edge. Winter joined back to Joe's side, Ralph floating in between them. They looked at each other. They knew where they were going. They knew what they were doing. They nodded. As a unit they stepped forwards. Their friends called and waved their goodbyes behind them as the group of friends walked on into the distance. Joe was smiling a beaming white smile. He hadn't felt so excited yet so unsure in ages. But there was no turning back now. Another adventure was lying ahead of him. Only where would the road take them. They drifted down the tarmac path like pollen on the wind, going wherever the world would take them. Under his breath Joe whispered his final farewell.

"Au Revoir Friends. Au Revoir home. Au Revoir Kanto."

* * *

**And that's the end.**

**Ok, so here's a little bit of information about what will happen next. Don't worry there will be no spoilers (Well, maybe a few. Nothing big at least.) but there will be a little bit of information about ideas and stories I'm working on.**

**To start of with: Yes, there will be a sequel to this story. It will be following Joe and Ralph, as well as Winter, along with a new third team member and new pokemon to each member's team. There's also going to be a lot of stuff relating back to this story, as well as some real surprising twists and plot points I have in mind. It will be called 'The Crobat Chronicles' as well, except, unlike this one, the subtitle will be ': Johto' instead of ': Kanto'. Imaginative, I know. It's so that people know where the story is set and don't get the books mixed up. It's also that later on if a new reader needs to look back and find out about something mentioned about the previous adventure they know where to find it. As for the relationships between characters... things will change. I will not say how, but certain things will happen. I am planning to add in a love relationship, but I won't say who for. Hell I might add two for fun. Also the story will get a lot darker, especially near the end. No swearing, just some nasty, cruel stuff which happens. **

**Now, some spoilers to get you excited for the next book: Like I said someone will get in a relationship with someone else. Who that is, I will not say. That is for you to find out. But as well as this there will also be some interesting team members added. A few of the pokemon will be, as decided,: an Eevee, a Cyndaquil, a togepi and a RED GYARADOS! Also someone's going to get a thunderstone... but who? (You probably know already, don't you.) Also, someone else will Die! (No guessing. I want no one giving it away. It's gonna be BIG!) **

**What other stories will I be doing: Well like I said I have a few ideas. One that I am definitely doing is a short first person diary of a survivor in the D.C wastes of Fallout 3. It will be a horror and will focus on his journey through D.C to Rivet City. This will be a small, mid book project and probably won't be much more then 5 chapters long. As well as this I'm planning on writing a short novel which will be about Ralph's past. It's probably be called something like 'The Crobat Chronicles: Ralph's Origin'. I'm still concidering whether I should write this one yet or not. As for this any other ideas I have still need thinking but won't likely be done for a while. As for Pokemon Battle Arena, I'm rethinking the choice to write it or not. I don't have loads of free time so I probably won't.**

**Also, on a side note, If anyone has done any artwork of any kind based upon this story I would actually be very interested in seeing it. So, if its on a site like DeviantArt or any other site, send me a link to it through review or Private Message. Any I find myself I'll link through notes in the next book so any fans can see. It doesn't matter if its bad or not, I'll still link it. If there's any drawing that really stand out to me I might actually consider using one as the cover for the next story.**

**Well, that's all for now. Hope you enjoyed this story and that you followed it ok and all the way through to the bitter-sweet end. For the fans of this story, stay liking it and of course keep sending advice, reviews and comments on things I could improve. I don't Imagine I'll do much editing of it now, but you never know. Anything seriously bad I will go back and look at again, changing what I need to. Remember to watch out for when the sequel comes out and keep updated. Write a review if you want. Any advice or opinion is really wanted. (Seriously, I have, like, 13 reviews for 41 chapters. WTH?) Still, have a great time. Have a great life! Till next time, _Au Revoir_. (I'm not french, btw.)**

**J out**

**New News: Book 2 has been posted now. New chapters will be out each Sunday. You can read the first chapter here: **** s/11340040/1/Pokemon-The-Crobat-Chronicles-2-Johto **


	42. Sequel update (Extremely Late!)

Forgot to post this many, many months ago.

For all of you who didn't know I've been uploading the chapters for the sequel story for a while now, and they're now available on my page. Check it out through this link here or by simply going back to my page and checking there.

Thanks for reading this story and following it all teh way through. The respect I've gotten for this story alone is unthathomable. I'm eternally greatful for the experience I have had making this work.

Thank you all.

Have fun reading on!


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